- 2023 Spotlight
Personal Statement
My name is Caleb Catalena, class of 2025 and I attend Rosehill Christian Academy in Tomball, Texas. I am enrolled in all honors/PAP classes as well as dual-credit courses. In order to excel on the basketball court, I must also excel in the classroom, the two go hand in hand.
My basketball journey began the summer after 6th grade. My goal was to make the basketball team the next year, and I was going to work hard to accomplish that goal. I made the team in 7th and 8th grade, but I also faced a lot of adversity. Those two years we lost EVERY SINGLE GAME. I do not know one athlete that enjoys losing, I know that I sure don’t. However, I have learned that losing provides the opportunity for improvement, learning and growth. Losing ignited a fire inside of me, it motivated me. Losing is one of the contributing factors to my strong work-ethic, my toughness, my grit and my ability to bounce-back. All of these things require a substantial amount of heart. I have also learned that those are all things that anybody can do, but they are things not a lot of athletes are willing to do consistently. That is my competitive advantage. After the completion of my 8th grade season I wrote down three goals for my freshman year of high school. Those goals were:
1. Earn a position on the Junior Varsity team.
2. Earn a starting shooting guard position on the JV team.
3. Work hard to put myself on the radar for Varsity my Sophomore year.
I achieved those goals and more. At the end of the 2020/21 season I was moved up to the Varsity basketball team. This year I experienced my first school win, I met and exceeded my goals for this season. I know there will be a lot of sacrifices that I will have to make in order to accomplish my goals. I know there will be “bumps in the road” along the way. I know there will be difficult times, but I will continue to work harder every day than I did the day before, because that is who I am.
For the 2022/2023 school season the 3 goals I set for myself were:
- 1. Step into the Co-Captain leadership role with confidence.
- 2. Average 20 points and 6-7 assists per game and keep number of turnovers low.
- 3. 1st Team All District.
- For the first time since setting season goals for myself, I did not accomplish all of my goals. I was awarded 2nd Team All District. I was out for 6 games due to an ankle sprain that occurred at a tournament over Christmas break. I know not playing in those games was going to cost me 1st Team but, I kept working for it anyways! I do not like to fail or fall short, nobody does. However, I have learned that there are positives in negative situations (failing, losing, etc.). The positives come in the form of lessons and learning from the negatives and how/why they happened so you do everything in your power to make sure you don't make the same mistake again! I was also awarded with Tournament MVP and First Team Shooting Guard in 2 of the 3 tournaments that we played in this season. First Team All District stays on my goal list for 2023/2024 Senior season, and I will continue working incredibly hard to get it!
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“If you really want to be great at something, you have to truly care about it.
If you want to be great in a particular area, you have to obsess over it.
A lot of people say they want to be great, but they are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness.
They have other concerns, whether important or not, and they spread themselves out.
That’s totally fine. After all, greatness is not for everybody.”
- Kobe Bryan / Mamba Mentality
