Into A Place Of Higher Learning And You At The Podium By Matt De La Pena

Life Lessons One important life lesson is to always know where the cats are before letting the dogs out of their pen. If the cats are outside and the dogs can see them, move the cats before opening the pen. If the dogs are barking at something far away, don’t let them out until finding out what it is. Following this lesson will keep the cats safe and prevent the dogs from running away. The short story “How to Transform an Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium” was written by Matt de la Pena. Life lessons are important because they prepare someone for future situations and provide the skills needed to make it through them. The narrator of the short story learned many things both on and off the basketball court, but the life lessons learned on the court were more important than lessons learned off the court.

An example of this is when the narrator says “I wanna play” (de la Pena 8). The narrator said this because Dante asked why he stayed at the gym and told him to leave. By saying he wants to play the narrator learns to stand up for himself. When Dante says “You wanna get in games, you don’t just sit there like a punk, right” (de la Pena 9) the narrator learns to take charge and not to wait for others. When the narrator thinks “Your old man will be there, though. Your old man is always there.” (de la Pena 10) he realizes that his dad’s actions and presence are more important than any advice he could give him. In conclusion, these are a few of the lessons that can be learned on the basketball