Bouncing the ball on the hard wooden floors, the gym lights make my sweat glisten as I

dribble down, what seems to be, an open court. My life is the game. In quarter one, the early
stages of my life brought me some hardships. Growing up as the last child of the family, I got
pushed harder than my other siblings because my parents wanted things to be done correctly.
They had less patience with me because my older brother and sister took the rest. Without
much room to grow, it was a harder time for me to learn because it was always a problem with
the way I would try to do things. As the pressure didn’t appear to ease as I got older, more and
more problems seemed to come along. My teen years were the start of me learning and
applying responsibility. I started doing chores, setting my alarm to get up in the morning, and
even working, but none of these things mattered, as I was still not given leniency with my work
ethic. Being exposed to all these new adult responsibilities, learning what to do and what not to
do, was a main factor in maturing in my teen days. In quarter 2, right before halftime, my life
changed for the better, as it seemed. My life was at an all-time high: my parents trusted me with
more, I knew adult responsibilities that I didn’t know before, and my relationship with my family
seemed better than ever. Then that’s when everything took a nosedive for the worse.
Arguments started to happen more frequently than me watching tv. First with my mom, then with
my sister. It felt like it would never end. Years went on, and the arguments went on with it. My
halftime show was the constant feeling that an argument would occur every night. A halftime
show always has an ending, and it was not until I was 17, did the house have peace again.
Dealing with chaos for so long has given me a resilience I am appreciative of. I no longer treat
altercations with the same mentality as I used to. Learning how to end arguments instead of
starting them is a big factor of how I live today. Quarter 3 was the start of a new beginning, I had
a new mentality about life, and came into every situation with an open mind. Then basketball
happened. Throughout my career playing basketball, not one coach has been the same. Some
were more helpful than others, but the coach I play for today has made my life a fight for sanity.
One day my coach can be happy with my performance, the next he can bring up the same
performance and call it bad. He wants me to be a leader, and he pushes me to great, but the
way he tries to achieve this is unsuitable for me to grow. Making me do things I would prefer not
to do pushes me away, even if I'm doing something I love. Quarter 4 is the result of my life, the
final score. Leadership is something that is earned, not sought out. This is what I am learning for
myself, so in the future, I can be the leader I know I can step up to be. As for my other core
values, the quarters of my life helped me gain the knowledge I need to live the life I am in today.