Jonathan Manning '20 Recruiting Profile

I really started to love basketball when I was about 5 years old; this is the age when I had my first memories of the game. My two older brothers were constantly playing outside and I was never allowed to play with them, since they were 5 and 8 years older than me. My earliest memory comes from the first real time I got to play with them.  They creamed me; I didn't even get a shot up and I ran inside crying to my mom. She stopped me on my way inside and gave me a piece of advice that I will never forget, “Jonny, I know that you're not happy with how you played, but quit crying and get back out there.” She has always influenced me to keep fighting through hard times. This same scene played out many times, me wanting to join in,  but getting creamed by my older brothers. Through hard work, determination and perseverance, my skills improved to the point where they actually wanted me to play with them. Soon after, they began to see me as a true competitor.  Today, I can challenge, beat, and even dunk on them! This experience taught me strive to get better every day, and feel the joy of competition and continued improvement.  

This hard work ethic has continued into high school.  As a freshman, I began the season as a starter on the junior varsity team. Then my coach started having me practice with the varsity.  He said that he liked the way I pushed the varsity players to be better and challenged them to play harder. I worked my way up to regular varsity playing time, then finished the last half of the season as a starter and earned my first varsity letter as a freshman.  In the off season, I took it upon myself to get into the high school gym by 6:00 a.m. three times a week, worked with a strength and speed trainer twice a week while continuing the regular open gyms and workouts with the high school team, as well as practices and tournaments with my AAU team.  I made it my passion to continually improve and strive to push myself to be better.  

I plan to continue this same hard work ethic and leadership throughout my high school career and into college. I persist to find new ways to challenge myself to improve. As I reach one goal, I raise the bar to achieve the next.  I am excited to bring this enthusiasm and passion to your program.