First and foremost, Happy Founders Day to Delta Chi. 121 years ago today, THE Delta Chi Fraternity was founded at Cornell University, and the lives of tens of thousands of men were forever changed. I'm proud to be a brother in that bond. Delta Chi will always have the utmost place in my heart, and I am the man I am today because of that brotherhood. Here's to 121 more years and then some. I love all of my brothers, and miss those who are no longer with us. Too Fly, Represent until I die....
Often times I'll compare my experiences as an active player to my experiences as a coach. Some things I see the same way, others I look at differently. One thing I can say is as a player and as a coach, I always look at what I can do better, and if there's a tough day or a miscue, it's ALWAYS my fault, and there's ALWAYS something I can do to make the team better. I think we live in a world where people will try to pass the buck and look to their left to find who is responsible. To be successful, however, I think you have to take ownership of your shortcomings and mistakes just as much as you take pride in your successes. If we have a bad practice, I take it on myself. I did it as a player, and I do it as a coach. And until the next one, I'm thinking about how I can make it better. Maybe I have some tough love for myself, but I just want to be better so bad.
So many people can look back at something they truly love, or something they are passionate about. I remember being 12 years old, attending a basketball camp at a high school, and one of the school's former players, now playing D3 ball in college, came and spoke. The one thing he really said that will stick with me the rest of my life was that this ball can take you all over the country, all over the world, and do so many great things for you, if you're willing to give it the time and attention in return, if you're willing to dedicate yourself to it and love every minute of it. That was it, I was sold. I knew then and there, I wanted what he had, and I wanted to work harder than anyone to get it, and I wanted to go all of those places and be one of those people.
12 years later, and I'm not disappointed with that choice. Still, one thing I wish I could share with more young players, is that there's a pretty well defined correlation between the time you put into your game and how much success you have. I remember hearing Gannon Baker speak (one of a few times I've had that privilege), and he talked about how he'd be in his back yard working on his ball handling waving his friends off to the mall and to the movies. He valued working on his game more than having some temporary fun.
When I was in high school way back 5 years or so ago (hahaha) facebook wasn't around for high school kids, but to all those young players out there, do you ever wonder how much better you could be if you spent half the time you spent on facebook on your skills?
Don't get me wrong, I'm relatively active in social media and all. Honestly, I'm glad I didn't have to deal with these kind of things when I was 15 though, I may not have accomplished my goals. It's easy to be in front of a computer when it's raining outside all afternoon. Me, I took the hard road, and went outside in the rain and handled the ball, shot the ball, got soaked. I'd come in from that and my mom would be so mad at me, because I'd go to the sink with gritty black hands to wash up. It was that work though, that mattered. It wasn't easy, but man I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
ITB,
Travis Ponton
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