- 2014 Highlights
Personal Statement
I know it's cheesy, but basketball was my first love. Ever since I was a kid growing up, it was my favorite sport to play during recess with my friends. Most of them played just for the fun of it, but I took every game as a learning experience to improve my skills. These are habits that I continued to develop throughout middle school and high school, regardless of whether or not I was playing with an organized team. I started going to the gym after school, constantly trying to become a stronger athlete and improve my skill-set; sometimes, I'll spend up to 8 hours in a day devoting my time to this. I've taken time out of my vacations to spend time with coaches for summer programs, and have developed good relationships with them as my mentors. I've lived and breathed basketball throughout my journey to become the passionate player that I am today.
My goals for playing basketball at the collegiate level are to grow as a basketball player, a student, and as a man. As far as the experience aspect goes, I feel that I am a late bloomer who has a lot to prove to get to the next level. Despite this, I am ready and more than willing to take on the challenge. After spending a lot of time developing myself in order to play on an organized team my first two years of high school, I played AAU ball as a starter in my junior and senior year. I love playing the game and am willing to do the necessary hard work to help a team win. I am all about winning, and am willing to sacrifice my own game for the good of the team. On the academic side of things I would like to make it clear that that will be my primary focus. As much as I want to play basketball professionally I realize that nothing is guaranteed, and that education does indeed come first. Finally, I want to mature as a man. Basketball has taught me about how to be successful in life in general. Hard work, intellect, communication, and persistence are all key elements that you need in life to be successful, and all of them have been brought out in me when playing basketball. I understand that the collegiate level is a much tougher and more competitive stage of basketball. However, I believe that by playing at this level for different coaches and different teammates that my view of life will change for the better and I will be able to learn a lot about how to conduct myself properly on and off the court.
