I was cut from the high school basketball team my freshman year. I played religiously at the local rec center through my youth and hit all the camps. I thought I was pretty good.

Unfortunately, due to where we lived, I played Junior High basketball at a little podunk K-8 school. Guess what the first question was to everyone the very first day of tryouts? "Where did you play basketball." Everyone who played at the big Junior High school ended up making the team. I got cut on the last day. I was devastated and embarrassed. Wanted to hide.

Regardless, I ended up playing Water Polo and loved it and excelled. I did pretty well in swimming too. Made really good friends and it all worked out in the end. I do a lot of multi-sport racing (triathlons, duathlons,etc) and having done water polo and swimming in high school is the gift that keeps on giving into adulthood.