An adventure that is unique, and each day is a new discovery. I remember my first moment on the USA courts. I couldn’t describe the feeling of amazement I felt in that moment. I was suddenly in a new world, almost an alien one, but also evokes a sense of appreciation for the little things in everyday life. I came across individuals I wouldn’t have met otherwise. My life has been filled with an endless amount of experiences ... and I write snippets of these experiences. Words of ’masters’ and philosophy of guys, memories, and dreams which are permanently embedded in the soul. The people crowded around the court, it was one of the most engaging things I have ever seen. Guys say things like:

‘We’re here to play, not fight. Yes, there is rivalry, but this is about bringing the ‘community’ together. There is this whole other  side of the basketball, and just because it is hidden away from the eyes of a lot of people, doesn’t mean it is not vibrant’.

I was not fond of having to use words. I used very few as a boy, I favored listening. Using images to describe an area that doesn’t have them is something I never imagined or wanted to do. Both can be found in the basketball court in a complete way. It never lies. It is the essence of the language of feelings and the language of the heart that communicates directly, even if not visible, what is truly real: emotional intentions. Allowing an idea to brew means understanding that, sometimes, a story will shift away from your initial conception of it to take on different forms, volumes and colors to ‘mimic the needs’ of those ‘captured in it’. It’s not about me, it’s about them and how they live their lives. What excites them, what do they want to achieve, what is their story. I am dedicated to discovering and displaying the beauty of their passions, trying to make the mundane look beautiful. I listen to the soul’s ‘mastery’ in search of meaning, and I hear words that are beyond my usual perspective:

‘We not show up to win the game, but show up to win the day. If we focus on winning these games, we cannot control things, and that makes us tight and tense. If we focus on ‘win the day’ as a goal, we can control that, and we get calm and relaxed and excited.’

Fear is the first ill of athletic soul, fear of making mistakes, of not playing. How many souls, how many thoughts do I come across on the USA basketball court. I listen to a great player’s thought:

‘It’s not about seeking results, it’s about the process of getting to the result. It’s about the journey. Mind is a costant quest to be the best version of yourself.’
- Kobe Bryant

It means to practice being the best version of oneself daily. I understood that there is no path to excellence, to awareness, Awareness is the path. The path is often a thousand miles or more, but it begins with a single, high quality first step. I observe and listen, striving to comprehend between slang and words that have been corrupted by haste, the colored guy:

‘Blackness, to me, is this thing that I wear that means different things in different places, and can be read in multiple ways.’

I learn the ‘listening practice’. It’s just sitting down with people and listening to them, especially ‘Black people’ who tell their stories ‘with a lot of aliveness’. They have their own ‘music’ that they are dancing to, but for the audience they are just ‘colored guys’. Few chose to listen to the sound of their movement. It’s a dialogue, they using their body as a way to show what basketball is like for them. Alternative stories that ‘people’ have yet to be explored or that have been ‘intentionally’ erased from contemporary knowledge. It’s like a mood or atmosphere where you don’t fully understand what’s going on.

I enter the playing court, I play with them experimenting with sound collages, ambient music and noise, a lot of noise, finding harmony and pleasure in playing with combinations that didn’t make sense at first, but with time, felt ‘not that crazy’.

‘I do what feels right in the moment. I just improvise. I just go with my imagination and try to make something more challenging each time.’

Simply, they find the spaces that allow them to breathe deeply. I move to the edges of the basketball court with a group of black guys. I spent time with them to better understand what drives them.  I comprehend their sensitive world where expressions of dignity and vulnerability star just as much as surface appearances. Fashion is used to either speak in relation to the subject or to elevate them, and the styling must be perfect because clothes are transformative only when they’re a just reflection of the person embodying them. The basketball court has become a meeting spot for the kind of conversation that many guys have been keeping behind closed doors.

‘Sometimes I think I might say too much about myself. But it works for me. Sometimes it’s like therapy. I just sit there talking to my friends, or to someone I respect and I’m just saying how I feel. Then I leave there and I feel lighter.’

But not all of their conversations dial into such vulnerable topics. In a pure reflection of daily life and friendship, there is laughter that brings tears, impassioned debates about music and light-hearted dissections of pop culture. When they sit down together, they dive into conversation that is wide spanning, talking on everything from music to family, sex to politics. Their life experiences are laced into episodes that can sometimes last for hours.

‘Those who don’t understand us see this passion as a dead end, a waste of time and energy without a tangible payoff. Our critics mistakenly value the perceived destination over the enlightening journey. Streetballers are always searching for their Nirvana. A streetball paradise where the competition and commitment to the game reflects their own.’

I come across ‘masters’ of life, ‘masters’ of Basketball who tell me about deep philosophies, about souls, about sensations:

‘I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can humiliate, humor, hurt, or heal. I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate.’
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

They tell me about the benches located on the side of the playing court, as well as moods and expectations. The memories of a life spent ‘writing’ stories about Athletes:

'Perhaps the most challenging task of any coach is how to influence those they lead in a positive, forward moving manner. It’s simple yet not easy. Your influence can create or it can destroy, it can light a fire in an athlete’s belly or it can douse the flames. Understand this: your influence is powerful yet never neutral. You body, language, your tone, your expressions, your gesture, your words and your actions all impact on how things transpire.’

I have always been aware that to hold to your ethics and principles is to act with integrity. I define integrity as the narrowing of the gap between what we believe and say and what we do. It is strength of character. This experience triggered the fascination with the body and its potential, but it also cemented an awareness of the relationship between mind and matter, and between creativity and activity. I find that thoughts are physical sensations, and physical sensations are thoughts. They are inseparable. We get one body, and the way that we tune it, and move it, and care for it ultimately decides how we see, and are, and think, and act in the world. My approach to Basketball is unconventional. Rather than focusing on teaching the right and wrong way to approach a situation, my primary goal is to foster an appreciation for intuition and ‘cultivate an affinity for working from places of doubt, vulnerability or uncertainty’.