Shouts ring through the air, interspersed by intermittent thuds of ball against ground and the squeaks of sneakers against the gymnasium floor. An unclaimed ball flies through the air. In an orange blur, a pair of hands deftly guide it back onto the ground, where it ricochets back into a firm grip. Justin Chao (12) dribbles the recovered ball, crosses the court in lengthy strides, and makes a strategic pass to his teammate. Though his teammate will make the shot, Justin aides in the scoring process, guiding synergy within the team.

At the age of seven, Justin started playing basketball as an extracurricular. Since then, he learned to relish in the teamwork of the sport by strengthening the friendships and bonds he builds on the court. 

“My favorite part about basketball is the social aspect,” Justin said. “I really enjoy getting to meet a myriad of different people, people I would have never met if I never started playing basketball. The team aspect is very special to me. I don’t think I’d have as much fun doing something like track or any solo sport. It’s very fulfilling to me to work with other people and have that team aspect.”

On the varsity boys basketball team, Justin plays as point guard, controlling the flow of the game. He plays a key role in guiding the team by distributing the ball to teammates throughout the game and driving the team to act on the offense. 

“On the court he’s very focused and when he puts his mind to something and really goes into his ‘grind mode’ as he calls it, then he’ll get work done and off the court,” close friend Andrew Smith (12) said. “He is incredibly dedicated when he is in the zone.”

Basketball team captain Om Tandon (12) is keen on Justin’s abilities on the court, both as a point guard in-game and as a teammate in general. Justin constantly helps his teammates improve their playing and collaboration with his leadership and guidance on the court. 

“Justin’s one of the best defensive players I’ve ever seen, and that’s because he has this aggression and this natural feel for the game that I haven’t really seen out of anybody else I play with,” Om said. “He’s very vocal on the court. He’s not afraid to call someone out when they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”

As a leader during games, Justin prioritizes the wellbeing of the team over his own personal feelings. In doing so, he guides his teammates to also consider the team as a whole. Though he used to get caught up in his emotions after a loss, Justin learned to encourage communication between his teammates to help share stress from the sport and diffuse tension in the moments leading up to a game.

“A lot of [teamwork] is just communication,” Justin said. “When you’re bottling up these emotions and not telling anyone about how you’re feeling, it’s easy to get lost in it and be consumed by your emotion. But when you’re open and outward with your emotions and you’re expressing them, it makes it a lot easier to process. It’s about being a leader and taking the initiative to not care about petty stuff. You have to prioritize the team.”

In his junior year, Justin opted to step back from playing on the basketball team. Without basketball, Justin felt as if he lost the driving force in his life. However, the year-long break from basketball ultimately helped Justin strengthen his relationship with the sport. 

“It was difficult,” Justin said. “That was probably the most rock bottom I’ve been in my life. I had to find different facets to deal with my emotions. It used to be that basketball was my filter, I would go bring someone with me and hoop it out. My entire identity became basketball. When I lost that piece of my identity, it became such a devastating thing to me, and that’s why I hit rock bottom.”

The hiatus was a struggle for Justin as he had played nonstop for nearly a decade before junior year. Simultaneously practicing with multiple teams since middle school, whisked from practice to game to practice on a daily basis, Justin found that his affinity for basketball grew into more of a duty, rather than a beloved part of his identity. After spending a year away from the activity he loved, Justin rekindled his passion for the sport; realizing why he loved basketball in the first place, Justin remembered his passion for the sport’s social aspects, stress relieving qualities and the flow of teamwork and communication on the court. 

“For me, I realized that for one, I’d lost my love for the sport, and just didn’t know what I was doing,” Justin said. “As life went on, to be good in the sport again, to genuinely be the most competitive person I could become and the best version of myself in basketball, I had to really love it for myself.”

Justin’s love for basketball shows itself not only in his passion while playing on the court but also within his own self-drive towards self-improvement and perseverance. Max Xing (12), teammate and friend, noticed these traits in his years of playing with Justin.

“The mark of hischaracter is how he bounced back from junior year. One of the things I admire about him is that even though he had a down year and not much was going his way, he didn’t give up,” Max said. “Just playing basketball with him, honestly on the court, off the court I can see just how much drive he has and his desire to win.”

This year, Justin returned to the team for the season and plans to continue playing in the future. He drew his eyes away from titles, losses and numbers that toyed with his morale. Instead, he now looks back to his energetic second-grade self, who played basketball for the sole purpose of enjoyment.

“Even when you’re trying to be the best, and you want to be really competitive, you can never be the best if you forget why you love doing it in the first place,” Justin said. “Just to keep playing, it’s finding the love for basketball I had when I was a lot younger. When you try so hard at something and you’re really competitive, you start to lose those fun and enjoyable aspects of doing what you love doing. What motivates me is my passion for the sport.”