Personal Statement
Throughout my life, basketball has helped me in many ways. I feel as if through playing basketball I have learned many things on and off the court, with that being manners, respect, confidence, being competitive, working hard and many more. One thing that really helped me get on track with my career revolving basketball is my Jr. NBA team in my freshman year. Through that season, I was selected to be the captain, I helped lead my team to the championship game where we fell short by a couple of points. I feel as if that is one of the things that has shaped me as a basketball player. When I entered the game I realized to be great you have to work hard, and I felt as if I wasn’t good enough, with many things such as my decision making, speed and overall game. Since then I am now starting my junior year and have worked on my game on and off the court. I believe this was one of the things that helped me be disciplined and motivated to get better at the game. When I was a kid, soccer was the sport that I grew up playing and watching. After a couple of years in my 5th grade year I started playing basketball at my current academy JSA, with some of my friends, between the 5th and 7th grade I played basketball on and off. Through my 8th grade year and freshman year I realized that basketball is something I wanted to take seriously. Around the middle of my freshman year is when I started realizing what type of person I was through playing basketball. I realized that I am a person who likes to learn from their mistakes, even though they get frustrated when they make a mistake. I also learned that I like being early to practices and most places in general. Some other things that I learned about myself included that I like thinking things through and making the right decisions, as well as finding solutions to things, I am sometimes slow to make decisions, I try to avoid mistakes even though they help you get better, when I get injured I try to continue playing, I get angry and frustrated easily sometimes, and I like to practice on one specific thing until I feel it is good enough, such as a mid range shot or a specific move. My academic goals when it comes to junior and senior year are to be a student-athlete and not an athlete-student, and that means to try to always have my homework/general work finished before class, prioritize my education and achieve a good GPA, 3.5 is my goal. Throughout my time playing basketball I have faced many obstacles, most being from injuries. The year before my freshman year, I had a serious injury that dislocated my toe, that was a minor setback for a major comeback that helped me get to where I am. Since then I have had injuries, however, none were very serious. Some characteristics that I possess include pushing myself, always trying to get better, and striving for greatness. I believe with hard work, I can achieve a lot of things.
