Growing up as a kid my uncle wanted me to participate in playing basketball because of my height but not only that I was very energetic. To me basketball didn’t catch my interest I don’t think I was interested in anything around the time.

When I started middle school playing basketball was a thought for me, but as time went on and school started to be a struggle so I decided against playing. Around that time my brother was incarcerated so it was difficult for me to deal with him not around. I regret not playing basketball throughout middle school. Middle school years were some of my loneliest times, being on a team could’ve been a positive influence for me.  Being on the team would have given me support and a new group of friends.   It also would have helped with developing social skills and help prepare me for high school basketball.

My freshman year of basketball i decided to play basketball, having the courage to sign up for high school ball is a lot. Because from freshman to senior year those are the best moments,those are the moments where everyone sees how you play.  This means fans,  your parents as well as scouts. Freshman year I wasn’t good, and I know I wasn’t. I played jv my freshman year and that was ok for me. Only thing I didn’t really agree with was our team didn’t work as a team; it was everyone for themselves and that’s what disappointed me.

The summer of my freshman year I talked to my uncle who is the assistant coach for Neumann university. I explained to him I’m trying to get better and achieve my goal,  being on varsity, I didn’t care about the starting five I just wanted to be able to play varsity and varsity only. So that summer he made an effort to put me in a few basketball camps in Pennsylvania that he felt were going to benefit me in a good way.  I worked so hard. Just making the best out of every camp even though I wanted to give up so bad. It was so much hard work and I wasn’t in the best shape, so it was much more difficult, but I stuck it through.

Sophomore year I became confident that I was going to do so good and put in hardwork. The day we had a scrimmage I was upset and just frustrated, but I knew it was my time to show everyone that i’ve grown so much from what I was my freshman year. No one believed me on the progress i’ve made. So when it was time for me to go out and start I  was starting with varsity players and it made me feel proud, but it wasn’t over yet I also had to show them why i deserved to be on varsity. That day I scored more than 2 buckets  and by the end my coach told me I progressed so much from last year. From then on throughout the season I was starting 5 throughout the season, and when the season was over I had gotten an award for most improvement for varsity.