Walking around school should be easy. That is, unless you just finished one and a half hours of sprints, defensive slides, and violent body collisions—also known as basketball practice. As I walked the halls the first week of the season, I tried to decide what hurt worst: my exhausted quadriceps, floor burned knees, blistered feet, or bruised chin? I decided I should just be glad I wasn’t the guy with the concussion. Now I know what you are thinking: Basketball? The game where you try to throw a ball through a hoop? Don’t you just shoot jump shots all practice? That might work if you are training to beat your little sister, but competitive basketball has a little bit of strategy involved. OK, a lot of strategy. It starts with me sprinting down the court and watching someone shoot the ball, and trying to get the rebound but being thrown to the floor instead. I then sprint back down the court so I can fling my body in the path of someone who has about 50 pounds on me and intends on catching the ball so they can embarrass me with it. Trust me, this is not easy. And you are trying to tell me that swimming is harder? Swimming is what people do when they are bored over the summer and want to mess around and have a good time. When was the last time someone called you and said, “Hey, I’m kind of bored. Do you want to meet me at the gym, pick a fight with people twice our size, and then see how many times we can sprint up and down the court before we pass out?” Yeah, that has never happened to me either. Ballin’ ain’t easy. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. (Editor’s note: this article does not necessarily represent the AHS basketball program).