A little life motivation never hur

For our collaborative package with the broadcast students, my group is doing a profile on Steve Granata, a motivational speaker. Granata uses the sport of basketball to teach elementary school children about some of life's most important lessons.

I saw Granata's show Wednesday afternoon at an elementary school in Elgin, IL. Showing off Harlem Globe Trotter-esque tricks, liking spinning the ball on his finger, Granata explains his dream of doing such tricks and how he got to where he is today.

Granata has been doing his Totally Courageous Basketball Experience full time for nine years, doign over 200 shows a year at elementary and middle schools. A couple of times he says he has dropped the ball and hit some of the kids, but that doesn't stop him from doing it.

Using basketball as a metaphor, Granata presents his three life rules: give your best, never give up and believe in yourself. Simple things to teach children, but better things to remind adults about. These are three concepts we're all taught when we're very young, but I think sometimes along the way we lose sight of it in the rat race. I think any of my classmates can say they have failed on one or all three of these rules at some point.

Lesson learned from my trip to Elgin: remember these three rules for this class, and everything else I'm doing, and maybe things won't be as stressful.