My Basketball Journey - "Happiness hidden within the struggle"

"Happiness hidden within the struggle"

Let's just jump straight to the point with this one. I don't believe there is such a thing as living a perfect life. Because life is never constant. It is a lot of ups and downs ever endlessly changing turns, and we really can't control what life will send to us at any giving moment. There will always be times when we are absolutely happy, and there will be times where we will get knocked down so hard it feels like we have been blindsided by semi-truck.

Those shifts of life we really can't control, but we can control our attitude during the "storms" part of life cycle. We can't control what challenge life will throw in front us, but we can control what we do when it comes. What I learned this year is life will keep throwing us at the same situations until we overcome the challenge, and learn the lesson it was trying to teach us.

I will give you one example from my life connected with my profession which is basketball. Actually, it happened this year when I was playing in Italy. Playing as a professional player I have faced many problems, and challenges I had to overcome. From injuries, bad coaches, bad teammates, and club organizations. This year I faced many problems at the same time, and it was one the most mentally, and physically challenging seasons I played in my life. I was in a similar situation 4 years ago playing in Croatia where I quit and went home. I was just not strong enough at the moment to endure it all.

This year I played in Italy. In a club called Mestre which is located right next to Venice. I mean 10 minutes with train, and you are in the center of Venice. Team with big exceptions for the season, and from me as a top player on the team. The year before I played against this team in playoffs and my ex-team Caorle ended winning the series 2-1. Under here is actually a choreography of their fans in the playoffs against us. I mean amazing fans and one of the big reasons why I decided to join their team. Simply a pleasure to play in front of them. You can see at the bottom right corner I am clapping, and giving them a well deserved praise for their amazing choreography. It is a pleasure playing in front of their fans as they sing, and cheer through the whole game. Under that picture, you can see my new team.

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Anyway, my season started with knee problems right before the start of the season. I missed my first 4 games of the championship because of it, and my team only won 1 out of 4 games. The pressure started to mount on a coach which eventually transferred it to me. I had to start playing even without being fully recovered, or go home and lose my contract. Eventually, I gave in and started playing on the bad leg which led to many other minor nagging injuries because my body was naturally shifting the balance of my injured leg to a healthy leg. That leads to more pressure shifting to a healthy leg which led to many muscle strains, tiny muscle tears on the other leg, and many other problems because I was running out of balance.

For an athlete, there is nothing worse than knowing in our mind what we can do on the court, but not being able to do it because your body is not capable of doing it anymore. Through this tough time, I had a lot of help especially from one of the families of the fans. Their encouragement and support helped me tremendously. It is incredible how life puts you in such a hard situation, but also along the way send you some amazing people like to guide yours through this tough period. Even with all the negativity, and pressure, there were so many positive things happening around me, but it is not so easy to notice them because at the moment my mind was only focused on the negative part of it all. Now after it all I look back at it and realize how lucky I was to have them in my life in those moments. I can say I literally would not endure it all without them. They actually made T-shirts saying "DURO IS BACK" my first game back after the injury. Simply put amazing people.

So with all those problems, I have decided firmly I will keep pushing this time even though my body was telling I am crazy. I had to convince my body to get crazy also, or this is not going to work at all. lol As the season was going by I just decided I will keep working in the weight room, and strengthen my body as much as possible. With consistent therapy, and persistence my body was starting to feel better every day, and it showed on team results.

We turned our season around being a second to the last team all the way up to a third place. Along the way, my health started to improve and with it the performance on the court. Slowly, but surely the whole atmosphere surrounding the team started to get much better. I had some amazing games. The highlight of my return was 38 point game against a playoff contender team called Codroipo. Just one of those days where no matter what the other team does to stop you it does not matter. The basket is ten feet wide, and all the shots were going in. I mean if I shot the ball with my leg it would probably go in kind of a day. lol It felt like I had the solution for every situation on the floor. Incredible feeling. I mean these are kind of games every player wants to experience during their career. It is what we live for.

I know what you are all thinking. Nothing can go wrong now, right? It will be a smooth sailing from now on. Wrong. We play two top teams in the league, and we lose both with just couple points and one in overtime. Here comes life again. Even though we lost only by couple points team management decides they want to part way with me right before the playoffs. The crazy thing about their decision is at the moment I was leading the team in points, rebounding, and assists. I mean who really does that. To say at least I was disappointed. I mean who wouldn't be after enduring, sacrificing so much to only get cut in the end. I literally sacrificed my body for this team. But my friends that is professional basketball. It is not always sunshine and rainbows.

So I had a tough choice to make. Either join another team in Italy or take what is mine by cutting the contract and go home. If you were reading carefully at the beginning paragraphs about how I was put in a similar situation in Croatia 3-4 years ago. Back then I decided to go home. This time I was even more exhausted mentally and physically, but I decided I was not going to go home again with a "tail between my legs." Not happening. I simply strongly decided I am not letting it happen again. I mean all of this struggle, and sacrifice for nothing. There has to be a "light at the end of the tunnel", and there has to be a reason why I was put through all of this again. So I packed my bags, said goodbye to some amazing fans and people, and I was on my way to my new team who had the same goal of winning a championship. Few of the Mestre Fans and one amazing family organized a farewell dinner for me to say goodbye. They actually could not believe team management made this crazy decision.

The struggle continues..

My new team's name was Basket Costa'd Orlando located in a small city called Capo'd Orlando. I mean it was just like heaven on earth type of city. Simply beautiful landscapes, beaches, and crystal clear Adriatic sea. It was least to say an amazing breath of fresh air. Spent most of my time just laying down on the beach. Ok, let's not get off the subject here. I will be blogging about amazing Capo'd Orlando city in some of my other posts.

So new team, and a new beginning, but the same goal firmly remained in my mind. I am not finishing this season with the "tail between my legs" no matter what. I was gonna do all I can in order to help this team win the championship. This team was already in playoffs and had six games left to play in order to win the championship. If by chance we did not end up first in a group we would have to play another two games in order to win it all.

To make the long story short life did not make it easy on me again. We ended up second in the group with the score of 4 wins, and 2 very close losses. Which means we had to play another 2 games in order for this team to win the championship and a promotion to a higher league. We had to play 2 games in 2 days. Maybe you're a bit confused, but so was I since this was weirdest playoffs set-up I ever played in.

Last two games of this drooling and challenging season are finally here, and no matter the result my season will be finished. I was incredibly exhausted mentally and physically just coming to this point, but I decided I am just gonna dig up last ounces of my strength, and just give whatever I have left in the tank. I was just not gonna let last 10 months of my life going without a reward in the end. That was the only thought going through my mind the whole time.

I don't want to drag you out for too much longer so I am gonna jump straight to the result. We have ended up winning both games in 2 days and with it the championship. I played over 38 minutes a game in both games. Leading the team in points, rebounding, and assists again. In a team sport personal statistics really count for nothing unless you WIN. It's never about the quality of individuals, but rather the quality of teamwork. The way the team plays together. Everybody has to make sacrifices in order to win some games. I am still amazed at where I found the energy to play the way I did, and how I endured it all after all the beating my body took this year.

In those 2 games, I felt like I can't get tired. From where the energy came from I have no idea. My legs were fresh, light, and my body was not hurting. It was like I just did not go through all those challenges, and my body was not tired at all. Incredible feeling. Something or someone was looking after me, and gave me the energy to make this last two steps and become a WINNER. That is the only way I can explain in.

After the last buzzer sounded off all my teammates were jumping around, hugging each other, celebrating, and crying while I literally just laid down on my back. At that moment I felt like everything, and everyone around me was moving in slow motion. Simply the feeling I can't describe to you unless you feel it yourself. For about 5 minutes all the moments of struggle, disappointment, and hardship went through my head.

Was it like life was asking me? Do you understand now why I put you through all of this? Have you learned the lesson yet? I finally understood what life was trying to teach me 3-4 years ago in Croatia, and this year in Italy. All of those challenges lead to this perfect moment of absolute bliss. This time unlike the other time in Croatia I was strong enough to learn the lesson life was teaching me. This time I didn't CHOOSE to go home. This time I decided to stay, and fight through it all. All the pain, struggle, and disappointments were worth it just for those 5 mins of complete bliss. I would do it all over again just to get to that exact moment again. Simply indescribable feeling.

So the lesson is..

"Life will keep throwing us at the same situations until we overcome the challenge, and learn the lesson it was trying to teach us."

Your life lesson is not probably like mine connected to basketball, but I am sure we all are put in similar scenarios written by life. So the lesson here is if you are constantly put in the same, or similar hard situations in life it is probably because it is trying to teach you something. Don't wonder, and curse life for putting you there again, but rather try to look at the bigger picture. A greater meaning to why these situations keep happening in your life. Why you? Why me?

In the end, we will always have a CHOICE of going home, or staying right there where we are, and fighting through it all. There is nothing wrong even if we decide to go "home". I did it. I can admit it. I was not strong enough at the moment to endure the challenge life has put in front of me. But from my personal experience, I can say if you have any strength left, don't go home. Make a firm and strong decision with all your heart and soul to keep pushing, keep fighting, keep struggling, keep falling, but always keep getting up. Sooner, or later you will come up as a CHAMPION. Just the way I did..

I hope my story did not bore you too much, but I just felt I had to get this off my chest and share it with you guys. Life is all about choices, and I hope this story will inspire next time you're faced with life's challenge. Choose to stay, and fight through it all. I am not stronger, or better than you, I simply made a strong decision. You can do it also. All it takes is making a decision to do so. Go out there, and create your own moments of complete, and perfect bliss.

"There is no such a thing as perfect life, but there are perfect memories and there are perfect moments. Let's live for those memories, and let's live for those moments."

See you guys in the comment section. Have a great day all. :)

All my basketball related posts and blogs will be posted in #mybasketballjourney. :)

ALL THE IMAGES POSTED, AND WORDS WRITTEN IN THIS POST BELONG TO ME. 100% ORIGINAL.