Has anyone ever made you rethink the way you view the things around you and even your whole life? One person came into my life and did just that. He is the most influential person I have met since my parents. He taught me how to stay disciplined and how big life really is. How I have to work for things in my life and how it won’t come easy. This man was my basketball coach, Anthony Flemmons, he taught me so much in just a couple of months over the basketball season.

The most important thing he taught me was that life is so much bigger than we think it is. As a player, I can say that I often forget about the things around me and it feels like nothing matters, but the game. Anthony more than once said, “Life is bigger than basketball, basketball is just a small part of your life.” He would say this when we would get too worked up in practice and in a game. This made me think a lot more throughout the season and even when the season was over. I thought more about what was happening around me and about my future. Often I thought “Is doing this going to affect my future or is it just going to be a lost cause.” I applied this to a lot of things like grades, purchases, and doing stupid things with my friends. Coach would also say “You will make mistakes and that’s okay.” I a took this to heart because I always want to be the best that I can be, but I can make mistakes. This surprised me the first time he said it because I viewed him as a man who wanted perfection, but now knowing that he understands mistakes just made it better. This was just one lesson he taught me, another was that things in life won’t come easy.

Anthony could understand mistakes sometimes and could realize that basketball wasn’t everything, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t push us to win every single game that we stepped on the court. He made it very clear in practice that things won’t come easily in basketball and in life. We would come to practice and work for 2 hours straight every day after school. When running drills that we just couldn’t get right he would yell “The other team isn’t just going to hand you the win.” After practice this got me thinking once again about my future in the sense that I’m not just going to be handed a high school diploma or a job, or a house. I thought it all starts with my grades so I tried to get the best grades that I could get. So I’m hoping that with good grades that it can set me on a course to success. I also realized that with the working that I have to make sure that I am thankful for the things I get. He told a story of him growing up in the cities and having to try out for the team and that we are lucky to not have to try out. He made sure that we thanked our parents for letting us play and supporting us throughout the season. I want to make sure that I am thankful for whatever life gives me and to be grateful for the things I have. Another lesson he taught me and the team was to stay disciplined.

Like I said Anthony did not like to lose games and he made that very clear by yelling from the bench, making us do push-ups when we missed shots, and down-and-backs whenever we messed up plays in practice. Coach pushed us to be the best in the HVL. He wanted us to be the best that we could be. Of course, it wasn’t fun, but it made us better players and more disciplined. It made me realize that I have to stay disciplined throughout my life. I have to turn in my assignments on time. I have to do my chores when my parents ask me. I have to go to school every day even though I really don’t want to. If we lived undisciplined lives nothing would get done. People wouldn’t get out of bed to go to work. Being disciplined helps me stay focused on the task at hand and get it done on time.

In conclusion, Anthony Flemmons was the most influential person that I have met in my life. As he coached me he taught me that life is a lot bigger than we think it is by constantly telling us life is bigger than basketball. He taught me that things won’t come easy in life by telling us stories of his past and in the game a basketball. Anthony also taught me that we have to stay disciplined by showing us what happens when we aren’t disciplined and when we are. I’m excited to see what lessons I will learn from my next basketball coach.