Case Studies

Name of the student:

Ruxandra-Elena Nagîţ

Country:

Romania

Sport:

Basket

Name of the School:

Colegiul National Iasi

School Typology:

Theoretical Highschool

Address:

Str. Arcu, nr. 4 Iasi 700125 Romania

Tel:

0040 232 214036

Fax:

0040 232 264385

Web site:

E-mail:

The Context:

During middle school, I used to be taller than most of the girls my age; therefore I was invited, in the 5th grade, to join our school’s basketball team. Before that, it had never occurred to me that I would get to play basketball. In fact, I didn’t even know much about this sport when I decided to actually go for it, but I was curious about it, eager to try something new and, probably the most important, my best friend was also going to do it. But this lack of genuine passion didn’t last long; as I started practicing, I slowly got hooked on it – It wasn’t only about the adrenaline rush, the endorphins, the joy and pride of scoring, but mostly about the team. Those girls became my best friends – spending lots of hours together, motivating one another, sharing moments of intense joy - after winning a game – as well as deceit and frustration when missing one. I guess this is what kept me going, because my parents were totally against me playing basketball and my teachers were also rather reluctant about it. They would rather have me spending my time doing maths or some other “intellectual” activities. I must say it was hard to do it without my family’s support, but I was lucky enough that my coach insisted in talking to them every time some convincing was needed.
Regarding my school’s sport infrastructure, all I could say is that there is plenty of room for improvement. The underlying problem is that, in my country, people’s attitude towards sports is very similar to my parents’ – they tend to put higher premium on cognitive skills and activities, while physical education is considered of lesser importance. This is why young people are encouraged to acquire some skills that would later help them make a living, to work their minds, rather than take care of their bodies.

Balancing Sport and Education:

I played basketball for 8 years, all the way through middle and high school and, on a normal basis, I would have 3 basketball practices (each being 2 hours long) per week and, from time to time, a game at the end of the week. This meant about 6 to 8 hours/week. On the other hand, apart from the time I was in classes (5-6/day), I would dedicate about 2-4 hours/day to studying so definitely my basketball activity did not have a negative impact on my studying. On the contrary, even when I was physically exhausted after a practice, my mind was clearer and I would dare to say I could even get a better focus on my studying. I actually got some pretty good results in several maths and physics contests, both on local and national level and I was among the top students in my class. Regarding my basketball - related achievements, I would say the greatest of them was being selected to play for my city’s first league team, which I did in my last year of high school.

Future Perspectives:

Unfortunately, I had to stop playing basketball on a professional level as I started university, as my schedule would have not allowed me to attend the practices and games. Even so, sport is still an important part of my daily routine and I try to do some sort of physical activity every day – from yoga and swimming to hiking and, from time to time, even playing basketball.