You’ve always loved basketball, but if you’re anything like me, the best word to describe your ability is “decent.” You know you aren’t good enough for the school team, but you’re not ready to give up the sport. The answer is simple: recreational basketball.

Playing recreational basketball (commonly referred to as “Rec-ball” or “Rec”) is one of the single best decisions a high school student can make. For the price of $83 per person in the MoCo Rec league, anyone can put together a team and be guaranteed a chance to compete with other teams throughout the winter.

Rec has so much to offer. Not only does it allow the average basketball player to be the star point guard they have always dreamed of being, but it also gives all students a chance to come together with their friends and take a break from their hectic daily schedules.

In a world filled with college apps, standardized testing and APs, the chance to have unadulterated, healthy fun is not an opportunity any high school student should pass up.

Rec games and practices are the highlight of my week. For the few hours of playing basketball each week, I get to see my friends and exercise in a structured environment.

That is the beauty of Rec ball: the experience is completely malleable to the participant. The season can be treated like a competitive team or like a pickup game at the park. There are no rules that declare how much or how little you invest yourself in the sport.

Personally, my Rec team (reigning Montgomery County champions Ballerz Elite) has decided to treat it as the single most important thing in our lives. However, this is not the only way to approach Rec. The only requirements to having a team are a having an adult coach, five players, and an hour of time to play. As long as these small formalities are met, rec basketball is whatever you need it to be.

If you ask any CHS student on any given day how much work they have to do, the answer will probably not be delivered with a smile. Do not misconstrue this as a complaint, because dealing with stress is arguably the most important lesson high school teaches you, and I believe the concept of rec ball is the best way to cope with school stress.

Students don’t have many options when it comes to breaking up their school work and doing something they truly enjoy. Extracurriculars attempt to do this, but often times they fail.

Which makes activities done with the sole intention of having fun essential. These activities consist of anything you participate in where the point is not to build your resume or academic career but it is to simply spend some time enjoying yourself in a wholesome way.

Rec basketball and rec sports in general are amazing because they are one of the few well-accepted healthy use of leisure that anyone can be a part of. Rec basketball is no different from a laser-tag team, or an online gaming team, or even a Fantasy Football league, they are all simply done for the love of the activity.

So from student to student, I advise that everyone find his or her ‘Rec Ball,’ find an activity that you do simply because you truly want to, and I can guarantee you it will make your life exponentially better.