When I was a small child I was always made fun of about how big I was and how I was never going to play any sports for my school. I was not fast, not strong, but I was very smart at anything I put my mind to. Instead of playing sports in elementary and in most of my middle school life, I studied many players in the NBA and made my knowledge better. I took my knowledge to the gym and worked of specific things. Whether it was shooting, ball handling, speed, rebounding, defense etc., I practiced these things over and over again and soon enough I started to lose some weight.


8th grade year came around but I still never played for a school team because I was too nervous to attempt to try out for the basketball team. My parents put me into a smaller private school and the coach there wanted me to play for his team. I tried out and I made the JV (Junior Varsity) team. I was also apart of the starting line-up at small forward where I felt most comfortable because I didn’t like to dribble that much at that time. The season flew by and I was the leading scorer on the JV team. My school went to three basketball tournaments that year but one of their players got injured so they needed one more guy on their roster. They looked for a decent player but couldn’t find any 9-12 graders so; they picked me as an 8th grader to join their rotation. Even though I didn’t get nearly as much playing time as I did on JV I was happy to help bring my team to the championship game win.

My freshman and sophomore year I stayed at the same school and played varsity basketball but I did not start which made me really frustrated. I watched many of my past games and looked for what I needed to improve in as a young player. I was averaging 12 points a game, 3 assists, 5 rebounds during my sophomore season. Over that summer I went to the gym daily and played with college players and more experienced players to improve my game tremendously.

The next year, my parents sent me to a public school called Atherton high school. It didn’t take me long to fit in because many people knew me as a basketball player and watched some of my games and knew I would be good for there school which is not that good at any sports except soccer which I definitely do not have the talent or stamina for. I tried out for the team and made Varsity easily. My school team played really well that year. We had a record of 15-9. I averaged 16 points, 5 assists, and 6 rebounds and, 2 steal a game. I was named sportsman player of the year at my school.

Currently, I am a senior in High school and I will try to lead my team to a championship. As I look back at my early career in basketball I think about how fat and clumsy I was. I fought hard and wanted to be the best as I could be. Now I am solid 175 pounds and I am 5’10. I now feel more comfortable playing at the point guard spot and I the team leader. My mother always tells me to this day “With God, all things are possible” and I truly believe that to this day.