Alvin “Aj” Knight, '20 Recruiting Profile

I showed interest in sports at a very young age.  Although I’ve now settled into Basketball now,  at 4 years old I used to sleep with a football and not having no concept of time, I would ask my mom every morning if I was old enough to play football yet.  She would always say 5 is the magic number.  I then cried on my 5th birthday (12/14) when I was told the season for that year ended and that I had missed out on playing and would have wait almost another year.   This is just one of many examples my parents will give that demonstrates my love of sports from a very young age.  At 5 I stopped watching Nickelodeon and only watched ESPN. That’s when I became a lover of ALL sports.  My family knew to ask me if they wanted to know about players, stats, trades, teams, anything to do with sports.  My love of sports continued throughout adolescence.  I ended up playing sports all year round earning starting and key positions in football, baseball and basketball, including QB, Pitcher, 3rd baseman and Point Guard.  Needless to say I kept my parents very busy.  But they will also say, they rarely had to push me to do any of it. I loved all of it and enjoyed working hard to go on and win many championships in all three sports. I chose to settle on basketball in 8th grade and from there my athletic abilities and level of commitment grew exponentially. 

One of my of the biggest obstacles I had to overcome was my need for perfectionism.  This way of thinking and being led to many sleepless nights as well as increased anxiety.  My need to be perfect would interfere with my ability to take risks and would cause an intense level of pressure and stress.  I had to learn how to be less critical and judgmental of myself and learn to be okay with making mistakes.  I had to get out of my head and allow the hard work and exceptional skills to do its job.  Many of my coaches helped me work on this and I have learned various techniques for managing anxiety and staying present in the moment.  This has helped me to play at the highest levels with outstanding results.  I no longer need to be perfect but to be the best player I can be, always giving it my all.   If I make a mistake I see it as something to learn and grow from and then most importantly I no longer dwell , so I move on.  Now I focus on always getting better and being a leader to help others get better too.  Being an integral part of my team is very important to me.  This attitude has helped me and many teams I’ve played on win championships. My ultimate goal is to become a highly effective trainer that not only works with athletes on the physical aspects of the game but also the mental aspects, which is just as important if not even more so. I look forward to having an impact on other athletes so that they too can play at their highest levels both physically and mentally.