Playing Like its Your Last

I have a memo on my phone that I sometimes review before games. One of the realities on that memo is that if the Lord wills, today could be the last time I play the game.

Now it’s true that with today’s technology, I could come back from most injuries, but it is also true that there are injuries out there that one cannot return from. Or at least, cannot return from full strength. Then there is a thing called death. Though as a Christian, I believe in a coming day in which all things will be made new (including hoops), you get the picture. I don’t know when my final day of life is coming. Neither do I know when the final day of my career is coming. Who knows? It could be today.

Reminding ourselves of our own mortality as human beings helps us to more fully appreciate and invest into today. So also, reminding myself of my own basketball mortality helps me appreciate the opportunity to play the game…today. It gets me outside my own little world for a moment and enables me to give thanks for the opportunity to live and play (no matter how tired I may be). It humbles me, as it forces me to recognize that I possess today an opportunity that will not always be there. Sooner or later, my career will come to an end.

The day to day grind of basketball can, and oftentimes does, lead a player to get bored with not only practice, but the games. But to remind yourself that you won’t always have the opportunity to compete at the level you are now is to help yourself get ready to make a focused investment into the game (or practice). It gives you perspective and enables you to better appreciate the opportunity you have and, in turn, to take better advantage of it.

When you think like this, you can’t help but ask yourself: If I knew this would be my last day to play, how would I compete? An answer that comes to my mind time and again is this: wholehearted.

Sure, there are other things, but in the end, if I can walk away from today’s game (and I do have a big one today) knowing that I gave it everything I had, I can walk away quite satisfied–whether I played my finest game or not. I can know that I took advantage of the gracious opportunity that was presented me. I can know that I controlled what I can control, namely, my own investment into the game. When the buzzer sounds and I am in the quiet of my own living room, I can know the satisfaction that is found when you give the game your wholehearted best.

So I commend the practice to you. Think often of your basketball mortality and, in turn, give each day your best.