An athlete dedicates their whole life to their craft.
Obsessing over it at every waking moment. It is as big a part of their identity as their name.
When an athlete faces a career-threatening injury like Paul George in 2014, it changes their whole world.
Therapeutic Fishing
For PG it all came back to fishing.
Fishing, like basketball, requires immense focus and spatial awareness to be successful. It also is a very therapeutic hobby; it allows you to take a break from your problems and just fish.
No matter who you are or what you do, everyone always needs an escape, a way to blow off steam. In an interview with ESPN’s Marty Smith, George gave us the backstory of how fishing became his escape.
Like many of us, George was introduced to his hobby at a young age by his father. PG still, to this day, sends his father pictures of his best catches. Even jokingly claiming his dad is more proud of his fishing catches than his on-the-court performance.
While George has been fishing since he was young, he really got into it when he broke his leg.
Not many people have to see their own bone sticking out of their leg, let alone have to come back to professional sports. When PG had his injury, basketball was temporarily taken away from him, he told ESPN. George also expressed that fishing was used to escape from all the rehab and work he had to do to return to full strength.
PG still got plenty of fishing done despite his serious injury.
Giving Back To The Community
Grateful for his fishing ability, George wanted to give back to the community. During his tenure with the Oklahoma City Thunder, PG partnered with the OK “Fishing in the Schools” (OKFITS) Program of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. He did this with his own charity, The Paul George Foundation.
https://twitter.com/nbacares/status/1055119226237829120?s=20&t=AaEWUa-KSySngTVOkCUNvQ
Giving kids their first fishing experience is something George is very passionate about. Especially those who are not fortunate enough to be able to afford the expenses of fishing.
One of his foundation’s initiatives is to teach kids the importance of having outdoor hobbies. In a technology-driven and fast-paced world, it’s always important to take time to relax and appreciate the outdoors.
Team Bonding
Back in his Indiana days, there were some less-than-credible rumors about George and his teammate Roy Hibbert’s wife. To stop these rumors, George, Hibbert and George Hill went fishing.
On top of stopping the rumors, Hibbert attributes this fishing trip to helping him get out of his playoff slump.
He told Pacers Writer Mark Montieth “Yesterday after practice, he invited me out on his boat and we fished for about two hours, and just relaxed and didn’t talk about basketball. We just talked about life and trying to catch some bass. He reached out and got my mind off things. Hopefully it’s something I can build on, and he’s a great teammate, so I really do appreciate him reaching out because he didn’t have to.”
Hibbert followed this fishing trip with a monstrous 28 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in a game-two victory over the Washington Wizards in 2014.
George even managed to get Los Angeles’ resident fun guy and Clippers teammate Kawhi Leonard on the boat.
With all the discussion surrounding these two and how they play on the court, maybe the secret to a championship is more…
Fishing.
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