The Next Michael Jordan

My brother and I don't share many common interests. However, we both love to be active. He is the star of his middle school basketball team and plays for two AAU teams, Wall-to-Wall and the Rebels, as well as his travel league team, PYC. He even enjoys playing basketball with inner- city kids because other than being standout athletes, he believes some of them don't have much and don't expect much. People have told my parents that my brother, Justin, has the opportunity to make the high school varsity team as a freshman.

I am also an athlete. I've swam almost every day of my life. Just recently, I've developed a love for running. Sometimes, I feel like I can just run for hours. Both of these activities seem to ease my mind and help me relax from the daily stress that occurs during the day.

Indeed, we both have a passion for our respective sports, basketball and swimming. But there is a slight difference in the way we play our sports. When it comes to racing time, I tend to get very nervous. I worry about the competitors and who I'm racing against. Sometimes I shake. Sometimes I get goosebumps for long periods of time. Sometimes, I can't even smile. I hold a straight face up until it's my turn to compete. But it's very clear that I find it difficult to relax when it comes to the competitive aspect of the sport of swimming.

My brother, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Before tournaments or even when he's shooting hoops with my Dad in our backyard, he is as calm as the little waves that break right before they reach the shore at the ocean. Now, don't get me wrong. He isn't too calm. He's a fierce competitor who wants to win but realizes that basketball is still a game. On the court, Justin simply has fun. He doesn't worry about the team he's up against or if the opposing team's starter is an entire foot taller than him (which doesn't happen very often, considering he's almost 6 feet). He enjoys himself.

Over the past year, I feel that his fun during basketball has rubbed off on me during swimming. I feel that I'm getting better at having fun and not being so tense. For example, I even glanced at my parents and threw them a warm smile before one of my events at the A10 championships. That never would have happened in my championship high school meets. Who would have thought my little brother would have taught me something?

In the pictures above, I tried to capture the "fun" in Justin's moves on the court. He's not only a star player, but he also is a leader. Most of his friends look up to him because of his strong character and friendly personality. But most of all, he's always smiling :)