One of the most important concepts I learned during my basketball playing career, was understanding my role on my respective teams. It was important for me to understand this concept because it taught me how to handle friendships, relationships, and partnerships in the workplace.
When I played basketball in high school, I was not the star player, in fact I never started but one game. I could have went to other high schools in Corona and been a starter. People may think that in order to play college basketball, you had to start for your high school team and be their best player, so they would transfer to a school where that would be possible. I knew going into my upperclassman years that I would not be a starter because of the guards I played with, which were Michael Caffey, point guard for Long Beach State, Gelaun Wheelwright, shooting guard for Cal Baptist University, and Dominique Dunning, small forward for UC Irvine.
So I accepted my role as the 6th man (first player off the bench) and I still had a dream of being on a college basketball team. I never lost the thought of, "knowing my role". I knew that if I showed I was a good team player and a good teammate, I would have a chance to fulfill that dream.
One 7am practice my senior year, Coach Steve Alford watched our practice and later that afternoon, my high school coach told me that UNM had offered me to walk-on (non-scholarship player). This was the best news I had received, knowing already I was qualified and accepted to be a student at UNM, this was a path I wanted to be on. I am sure my high school coach, Coach Josh Giles, said good things about me on how I handled myself on and off the court. Even though I wanted to start and I wanted to be a star player, I trusted Coach Giles that he would lead me to a great path after high school was over for me. Sure enough he led me to the greatest opportunity I could possibly imagine. And it all resulted to KNOWING MY ROLE.
When I got to college, I knew that I was going to have to work twice, three times as hard as the scholarship players. I still had to earn a spot on the team and I spent every single day giving my best to prove that I belonged. In the weight room, I always tried to lift more weight than my teammates. During conditioning drills, I tried to finish first. On the court, I played hard and tough, I never took a possession off because I did not want to give the coaches a reason to cut me. I made sure I did well in the classrooms, I even offered to help my teammates with their studies. I also made sure I was on time and never late to team functions, I would help my teammates be on time as well. During film sessions, I would study the other teams' point guard, because I knew in practice, I would have to be imitate that point guard to make the preparation better for my team. I would go work out on my own or I would stay late after practice to get better. Because even though I knew I was not going to play, I was going to do my best to help my teammates that did. My teammates wondered why I put in extra work, even though I was not playing, even though I was not on scholarship. And it motivated them to work extra as well. I would spend every possession in practice, wanting to make a play. Whether it would be getting an offensive rebound, a loose ball, a steal, etc. I knew that if I made those type of plays, the coaches would get on the other players to not let the walk-on player outwork the scholarship players.
This was a new role for me, but I was prepared for it. I always worked hard and gave it my all. I know that there are not too many people that would sign up for this role. As a matter of fact, I constantly had teammates ask me, "How do you do it? You work hard every day but you don't play."
It was a role I took because I knew it was going to help me handle other things in life.
With friendships, we see that we have different type of friends. What we must understand that as a friend, we play a role in that person's life. I know that my role in most of my friends' lives, is to give them a positive influence when they are feeling down. However, sometimes we think our roles in our friends' lives are bigger than what they are. Some people just need a friend and not anything more. Once you do establish a dependable and trustworthy friendship, then it may go to a deeper level of friendship. But I think what we need to prove to our friends, is that we are going to be there for them no matter what. You may call someone your best friend, but maybe you are not THEIR best friend. Those friendships can be healthy if both people understand that they play a different role in each others lives. Because like what we see in business, the people that are loyal and stick through tough times, eventually get promoted to be something more.
In relationships, we all know that things change when it comes to a social life. All of a sudden, the person we are with is supposed to be your everything and eventually your friends mean less to you. You may feel the need to be with your boyfriend/girlfriend more than your friends. Again, both the boyfriend and girlfriend need to understand the role they have. Friends are important, we all need them and we all are given friends, so we cannot let another person take that away from us. Both need to understand that they are a part of your life, not your whole life.
Happiness comes in all shapes and sizes; we can get a good job, our friends make us laugh, our family is there for us. When in a relationship, people can feel that they should make their significant other happy. Which is a right attitude, but realize that you are not the only source of happiness for that person, other people are going to make them happy as well. So just understand that while you are in a relationship, you are going to become important to the other person's life, but realize that there are still going to be other important people in their life. It al comes down to seeing others happy, even if someone else does it.
Now I am truly starting to get into a working environment, but again I feel I am prepared for it because I have always understood what my role is. Some of us go work for a company, and get bossed around. Most of us do not like getting bossed around, so we develop a bad attitude. But a part of understanding your role, working under someone is going to lead to that, so you have to learn to accept it if you want to get promoted. You may think your boss does not do things the right way, so you protest by not respecting him or her and breaking the rules. They are the boss for a reason, if you work hard enough, you can be the boss and be able to establish your own ideas on how to make the company better. Maybe you are told to do work that no one else has to do, this is mainly because you are new. But in order to earn your spot or job, you may have to do things that you do not want to do. I know that freshmen have to clean up the weight room or they have to carry the extra bags in the airport, that is all to earn your spot on the team. You respect the upperclassmen for their hard work and understand that they had to do the same as freshmen.
We are and we will, continue to have hard times in the workplace, one thing we cannot do is give up. Because maybe the day you decide to quit, is the same day your boss wants to promote you. If you respect your bosses, co-workers, and people who work under you; they will all speak highly of you whenever you need them to. In the workplace, many jobs are given based on recommendations and you never know who will be asked or who you will need.
Thank you for reading! Please give me any feedback you may have! Have a blessed day!
Chris Perez
Twitter: @C_P_2
Instagram: @cperez02
Facebook: Chris E Perez
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