Spin Control
Natalia GorshkovaIntroduction
This story is about people who got into a difficult life situation and don’t want to give up. They put all the forces to have full lives. Surgeries, periods of rehabilitation, depression and despair made them look for a completely different purpose of life in the new circumstances.
Doing sports is their dedicated desire to overcome this tragic situation, so that’s why they’ve chosen basketball as the most active sports. This is kind of a challenge to fate for those who come to the basketball court to fight and win. These are the stories of the Russian team’s basketball players whose pictures I took during their preparation for the All-Russian wheelchair basketball tournament in October 2019-2020 and during these competitions.
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GALLERY
The one who has been injured recently is living with a fear to make new steps to changes. The reasons why it’s happening are depression, despair and conviction that nothing can be turned into a bright side.
Sport is a way to get out of a difficult life situation. Sport is the best cure and rehab. Lots of players say they can’t imagine their lives without basketball. It had become the greatest richness, the main adornment of their lives.
Stop feeling sorry to oneself is the main goal for those who want to change their life. Speaking about sports you have to follow your home and travel training schedule and always be on time. You have to accept and submit this way of life.
The team becomes a second family for athletes where every member is unique. They are all equal but not the same, everyone has its own story and fate. Not to become lost men they are keeping together. Helping others, they help themselves.
Self-belief encourages to start things over. The one who is in troubles is looking for support, comfort and solace dipping into sports, social activity, work or creation. He tries to help not just himself but also other people working on his spiritual core inside.
Basketball for these guys is not just a game or a way of personal fulfilment. It’s a competition with themselves more than with an opponent. Basketball is a strength test, it’s a soul balance search. It helps to gain self-confidence and find the supporting point.
Not everyone is ready to tell his own truth, the real cause of an injury. Few people are able to admit a once-made mistake and forgive themselves for that. But basketball taught them to be strong. The tragedy gave them an impulse to move forward and strengthened their self-confidence.
Causes of injuries are different. Ridiculous domestic incidents, car crashes, criminal cases… Someone tends to forget what happened as quickly as it’s possible, someone goes through a much longer period of rehab. Everyone has his own way to accept that new reality.
The athletes have already accepted the fact that everything that had happened with them is forever. Thus humbled themselves they could move on and find the reason to do that in the process of overcoming but not the result itself.
It’s hard to believe but a lot of athletes are thankful for what happened. They found their peace with the situation and didn’t look back. They could pull themselves together, get out of the impasse and become happy. These guys give hope to other people in troubles not to fall into despair and find themselves in this life.