20% Time

            Whenever I began my passion project back in November, I was unsure of how I would devote my time. I tossed around the ideas of learning how to play guitar or how to speak Spanish. I eventually decided on creating an exercise regimen that would help me achieve one of my life’s athletic goals: dunking a basketball. However, while trying out for spring track, I suffered a hip injury that would keep me out of all athletics for the rest of the year. Wondering what I’d do for 20% of my time, I asked one of my peers, Nic Owen, if I could help him with his passion project: creating a sport and playing it with our classmates.

            After about a month of working together, we had created LanZu (Mandarin Chinese for “foot-basket”), a combination of football and basketball. We developed rules, basic principles, and played the game with our classmates. Although I didn’t come up with the idea for the project, I felt proud of the few things I did contribute, like the addition and clarification of several aspects and rules of the sport.

I learned to cooperate and compromise on some of the rule changes, as well as how to organize people and dates when we were faced with scheduling conflicts. I also learned how to develop original ideas, as well as those of my peers. Although I was learning on a small scale, I felt like I gained valuable experience that could be used for any future projects or problems that come my way.

I felt like I accomplished a lot during the collaboration, but I’m disappointed that I didn’t complete my original goals. I would have enjoyed being able to better myself and measure my own progress, but helping a peer achieve his own goals was just as rewarding. I feel like I spent 20% of my year productively and enjoyably, even though the end result wasn’t the one for which I had planned.