After basketball tryouts, Mark Anderson came home devastated. All he had worked for had been thrown away in one day. All his friends were able to continue playing together while he was cut out.
Following the tryouts, Mark did not know what to do except to try to work his way back to playing basketball. Mark Anderson was left confused after basketball tryouts. His whole life centered around something that was now taken away from him.
“It is pretty devastating to get cut. All that work you do just to get thrown away,” Anderson said. “It is just really gut-wrenching, but I knew it was just a call to work harder for it, and all the guys I’ve been playing with since middle school all get to keep practicing and playing together, and I am just out of that. I just knew I had my work cut out for me, and I would need to keep working super hard to make the team again. I just had my work cut out for me.
Anderson prepared for tryouts in March.
“I knew I had an opportunity in March and just had to get as much work in as I could until then,” Anderson said. “I came into the tryouts knowing that just getting cut would be motivation to play better and make the team. I think that my teammates and friends were a huge support through this whole thing, and I do not know if I could have done it without them.”
Andeson’s teammates were supportive of him both in and out of school. Wilson Schaack, Mark’s school and AAU teammate, was there for Anderson and saw him grow.
“Mark was pretty devastated when he got cut from the team. It’s super hard to see all your friends get to keep playing while you just have to watch. He was definitely doing a ton to make it again, though. He woke up early to get shots up, and I would go with him after school to shoot around,” Schaack said, “our AAU team definitely helped him gain some confidence back in his game after he got cut. Just playing in real games helped his confidence a ton.”
Andeson’s teammate, Dhakshin Thinnati, thinks Andeson has shown a lot of growth since he got cut.
“Mark changed a lot since then. He has definitely had a huge confidence boost after working on the team and making it. This season, he has really been a spark off the bench and has just brought the energy to the team regardless of playing time.”
