Hi Ender,
I played basketball growing up. It was an obsession. I am pretty sure some of my close friends and maybe even my sister thought I was crazy when it comes to the game. At one point, after my first trip to Disney I counted 12 basketballs in my bedroom. I used to wake up at five in the morning to practice at the school gym. I bounced my basketball everywhere I went. Once a dog ate my favourite basketball. I cried a lot. For days.
I know I said this was not going to be about a book… and it isn’t. But I have to mention that when I was kid I read Magic Johnson’s biography. I borrowed the book from Luigi, my best man and your godfather. Magic bounced his basketball everywhere he went. He worked as a garbage man but modified his focus so that it became a task to improve his performance. It was repetitive. He worked with his dad so feedback was available. Definitely physical. Not fun.
Magic had a goal. Everything he did was towards reaching that goal.
Looking back to those days when I used to wake up at five in the morning… I know exactly what made it so easy for me to get up and tip toe my way out of the house and to school without breakfast. I said this was going to be personal and here it is: my dream was to play in the NBA.
Now… that was a pretty big dream. It had to be.
Right now I have big dreams again. I need to channel and adapt my lessons from Magic. I will be up at five in the morning tomorrow.
Silvio Kusakawa 
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