People seek escape through various means. Some find it in music, others through the filter of a cigarette. When I find myself weighed down by the pressure of daily life, I too have a means of relaxation. My solace is found in a rectangular enclosure between two spheres perched upon 10-foot poles daring me to meet them on their level. When I step on a basketball court, my consciousness allows me to forget all my tribulations. Playing the sport I love allows me the opportunity to connect with my inner self in its primal form, allowing me to sweat and work my way through emotional problems and giving insight into myself that wouldn't have been gained otherwise.
             My relationship with basketball entailed as many valleys as it did peaks. When I first played the sport, it was with my elder friends when I lived in Cote-St-Catherine a relatively poor area of Montreal. At that time with both my parents at work for most of the day, I sought refuge from the stress I would be under from being one of the only people who could not speak French in my French school. After getting off the school bus, it would be a daily routine for me to drop my books off at home and head straight to the basketball court a short walk from my house. Generally, my friends would be there before I would since they went to a closer school and I would usually arrive to find them about to make teams. Once we were divided, we would throw ourselves into the game without any further talk. At that time, my friends and I being from the same economic situation could not easily afford things like Nintendo and Sega Genesis. Fortunately for us, we didn't particularly care. Basketballs could be obtained for $25 almost anywhere and, we weren't overly picky if they were obtained in other less preferred methods. All it took was for one of us to bring that orange grail and gone were the thoughts of our inadequacies and shortcomings. From 3 in the afternoon until 8 or later...