Personal Statement
I am Miguel Mangual, a student athlete at The Brooklyn School for Social Justice and in this essay I will be talking about my first high school basketball game and the tragedy that made me the person I am today.
Transitioning into high school led to tragedy that helped make me the person I am today. I was excited for my high school basketball career and ready for the grind and hard work to qualify for a big college scholarship. I came into the school with a lot of confidence due to my past accolades in basketball with my middle school and it fueled me to continue my success in the sport. I always had the mindset that I was untouchable and nothing bad could happen to me on the court. Although I had a couple of injuries, fortunately, they weren't to the point where I had to sit out.
Tryouts were scheduled for Junior Varsity and I made a commitment to play at least one year of JV before joining the Varsity team. The commitment was made for me to get used to playing on a public school level due to me playing on a charter school level throughout middle school. So I felt I needed a year of JV to get me ready for the “upgrade.”. When tryouts took place, I was confident about being able to make the team; it all worked out and I had made the team. I was also named as one of the team captains. It was a huge accomplishment for me and the road to a scholarship was just beginning.
Now the team was set and we began to practice as a team. The coach took out who he believed were the best 5 five on the court and I wasn’t a part of that number. This made me boil inside because I knew I was better than the point guard they had on the floor; so I just kept saying to myself “When you get your opportunity you show out.”. So I sat on the sideline looking at the starting 5 five showing us the drills we needed to practice. 10 Ten minutes later it was my group's turn to do the drill and we had done the drill perfectly with no mistakes. The coach had seen how I lead my group so he made the drills become a competition. Whichever team made the most shots in a minute would win and the loser had to run 5 five laps. So, I gathered my team and just gave them a pep talk to get their confidence up and we got right into the drill. At the end of a minute my team had made the most shots so we came out of the competition on top. The coach pulled me aside and told me “Miguel I love your leadership skills and the way you lead your team. I want to see you do this more.” My coach explained that he had wanted to see me go against the starting guard to see who best fits for the team's success. There was my opportunity to become the starting guard and I aced it and destroyed my teammate. I went into the first game of the season as the starting guard.
First game chills were on. I was feeling the pressure that I had put on myself to be able to perform for my first ever high school basketball game. As tipoff approaches I head to the locker room and do my before game prayer and just ask for a great game. As I walk out I hear all the fans in the stands going crazy and getting pumped up for the first game of the year. The ref releases the ball and the game starts. I get the ball and start to run the offense. The first chance I got was an open three and I hit it:nothing but net!.
That shot got my confidence really high. A few minutes later I already have 13 points in a matter of 3 minutes in the first quarter and we are down by 4. The coach calls a timeout and sets up a defense for the team to run so we could generate steals and get the lead. We came out of the timeout and you hear the crowd chanting “Defense, Defense”, the team inbounds the ball and we get set in a 2-3 defense. As I keep shifting, I see the point guard pass it to my side and I quickly get the steal and as I run down the court the other team player is chasing me. As I ran down I hit the kid with a euro step and got fouled as I shot it, the ball went in. The crowd started to go crazy and I felt the emotion of excitement being shown in the gym, I got up hurt but made the free throw and now we are only down by 1. At that point I was out of this world and just ready to go off the rest of the game until the worst thing that could possibly happen had gone down. I had gotten another steal and as I went up for a layup the player from the other team had pushed me from behind. As I fell I tried to stop the fall so I stuck out my arms to catch myself and the most awful thing happened. I landed on my right arm being extended and I felt a pop in my elbow, as I looked down I saw my bone out of my skin. I immediately looked in the stands to see my dad and I was in pure shock. I tried to move my arm but it wouldn’t move so I crawled to the middle of the court in pure pain. The crowd and my coach didn’t realize my injury until I went to the middle of the court. When they saw my arm they were in shock and that's when my dean came on the court and dragged me out of the gym and called the ambulance.
That day I learned a very valuable lesson in which anything can happen in a split second no matter how good things are going in that moment. Anything can change in an instant. From that day on through my recovery of the injury I always held on to that lesson and never took anything for granted. That moment changed my life forever and taught me the tool of hard work and reality in which they both go hand and hand. No one is untouchable no matter their circumstance.
Now this lesson prepares me for college but also the next chapter in my life because I will never take anything for granted and will always not only be grateful but appreciative for the opportunities I receive. And of course injuries are a big thing that has allowed me to always keep a back up plan if athletics don’t work out for me which is why I am interested in studying sports management in order to stay close to sports but not in a physical way. Now my discipline off the court has allowed me to maintain a B average throughout my high school career in which could only be maintained through my dedication to keep my back up plan a reality.
