Handball

There should always be something special to you that will warm your heart when you think of it. As I sit at home everyday, I think of this special thing that will brighten my day and get me off my seat. Ever since I can remember, handball was one of the few things I never got bored of in my life. Handball to me is more than a sport or something to past time. It has been a way for me to meet new people and make new friends.

It all began when I was a little kid. I would always play games and never stop even if my parents took them away. But nothing could stop me from waking up at night secretly, and playing my Game Boy until I fell asleep. Then there was that one day when my mom bought me this red bouncy ball. She told me to play with it instead of my stupid games. I listened to her, and I started playing with the ball daily. At that time, I didn’t know what this ball would bring to my life, but soon I realized. After playing countless hours, I stopped staying up late, because I was so exhausted. I didn’t just bounce the ball around my house because I was bored. Sometimes, I threw it at my house walls and smacked it back with my hand so it wouldn’t get past me. This was probably when I first started doing something similar to what we know as “handball.”

As I was a teenager, there was this park across the street from my junior high school. The park was quite big and was called Seth Low Park. I remember one day, during 6th grade, a friend of mine, named Nabeel asked me if I wanted to play handball with him after school at Seth Low Park. Excitedly, I told him that I would love to, but I didn’t know how to play. He didn’t mind, so after school that day, I went to play with him. He told me that all I had to do was hit the ball to the wall with my hands. I was eager to try this sport, so I practiced with him every day. He noticed that I was a quick learner and asked me if I ever played handball before. I told him I used to smack a ball around at home and he commented on how well I could return the ball to the wall. I didn’t know what to say. This was my first time playing, and it seemed like I was a better player than he was. I guess I really was born to be a handball player.

As years went by, the only thing that I cared about was school and handball. Whenever I stressed from school or wanted to feel free and away from work, I would put on my shorts and run out to play. Nothing matters to me when I step on the court. I forget everything and just concentrate on my game. My love for handball was so great that when the sun had set and the sky was dark, I was still at the park swinging away my arm. Sometimes my arm began to hurt after playing for several hours but I continued to play, ignoring the pain. Even with these side effects, handball has helped me improve my reflexes and increased