'First thing's first, I gotta beat this game'

This is the fifth episode in The Post’s coronavirus podcast series, which each week brings listeners inside a different person’s experience of the pandemic. Previous episodes have chronicled a week in the life of an emergency-room worker, a blues guitarist, a minister and a librarian.

This newest episode features a professional athlete — Washington Wizards point guard Ish Smith. The basketball star agreed to record audio diaries over the course of a week in April, while isolated at home. In any other year, this would be the most competitive time in the NBA season. But because of the pandemic, Smith found himself with less pressure and more free time than his intensely structured schedule usually allows.

Listen to a week in Smith’s life, in his own words. Read the companion piece with photos of Ish by Rick Maese.

Share your story

Tell us how your life has changed due to the coronavirus outbreak, and help us share first-person accounts of life during the pandemic.

• Submit a voice recording (desktop only)
• Email us a voice memo (from your mobile device)

Previous episodes:

• 'Good luck, everybody'
• 'You never signed up for this’
• ‘I cannot hold it all’
• 'For me, it’s all the blues'

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• Sign up for the newsletter: washingtonpost.com/virusnewsletter
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• Subscribe to our daily news podcasts: washingtonpost.com/podcasts

Explore more first-person accounts of the pandemic:

A multimedia oral history of the virus's impact