- 2018 Highlights
Personal Statement
T’áá hwó’ ají t’éego. It is all up to you.
Recently, I have been writing a lot of essays and answering questions about all the reasons why I aspire to play basketball at the next level in college. I think coaches read a lot about how much basketball means to each student athlete and it's most likely a lot of athletes have the same kinds of reasons. As a student athlete of course I want to stand out and tell you that my personal stats are strong and I would do my best to contribute to a program. The question I am most asked to answer is what is it that I would be able to bring to a program that is different than everyone else? That's where I believe this answer might surprise you. I don't think I will ever tell you I am the best player you have ever met. Why? Because I play basketball. I am only the best at knowing that playing basketball means being part of a team. That means ever since I began playing, at no time during a game was I on the court alone. I have always been with teammates being led by a coach towards the same goal, to win more than we lost and for all of us to work together.
I can tell you that I am the best at recognizing that all I can work on and control are the personal characteristics that help me try to be the best teammate I can be out there on the court. That part is only up to me. I can tell you that I am the player who is best known for bringing a quiet steadiness to all of the teams I have played on. I have been a member of the varsity squad all four years of high school. I know that I have a leadership role in my team. This is why I want to be known for my strong work ethic and my loyalty to my teammates and that they can trust me to back them up and do everything I can to make our team as strong as it can be. I want to be known as the player who always stayed in the mindset of learning, of being able to be coached, of having a strong mental attitude, and as an athlete that always seeks to grow in knowledge and skill.
I hope that when you call my high school coach, Coach Francine McCurtain, her voice lights up and she says with enthusiasm, "Yes, I can count on Grayce. She is one of the hardest working players I have ever had. She is a credit to our program, you would be lucky to have her play for you because I am lucky she plays for me." I want her to be able to tell you that I try my best to be the first in practices and the last one off the court. I want her to say that I am a player that can be trusted. I hope that if you get a chance to meet my family and my teammates and my teachers and my friends, they all will tell you how much I love to play basketball. My mom will tell you what she always tells everyone that as long as she sees that little smile on my face when I play even when the games might be tough, she knows it will turn out well, win or lose. My dad will tell you all the things I still need to work on any chance you give him and he will ask you what can we do to help make her a better player? I hope everyone tells you that I am unselfish and that I am a good teammate. I hope they will all say things like that rather than she is the best player on the team. That's how I am most different than a lot of basketball players. I recognize I am only a part of a whole program.
In Navajo culture, the main thing children are told to do by their elders as they grow up is this phrase: T’áá hwó’ ají t’éego - this translates to "It is only up to you yourself and your hard work and determination" and because Navajo has so many nuances, the way it is pronounced means you have to give your whole effort, you cannot hold back, you must persevere. That is how I play basketball and that is what I would most bring to any program. I would bring the mindset of being humble and having appreciation and respect and always wishing to learn and to grow as a student athlete and as a person.
That's probably the strongest aspect about how being a basketball player has prepared me to be able to move up to the next level of playing at the collegiate level. I know we are all on a team. We are a team when it's my family too. Families do all the same kinds of things that teams do too. All the lessons you learn from being a part of a team, being a part of a family, being a member of your community, being related to people by clan and being Navajo, and then being Native American, being American, being human...these belongings all teach the same lessons. We can't succeed unless we all work together and contribute our skills towards a better life for all of us. The best way that I can make that happen as one person and one athlete and one member of a team is to work hard every day at being better than I was the day before.
T’áá hwó’ ají t’éego. It is all up to you.
