Personal Statement
I started to love basketball at the age of six years old when my mum took me and my friend to watch the Thames Valley Tigers. The next season they changed to Guildford Heat. My mum took me to a session and I just fell in love! My mum got a job at the club which meant I got to meet and know all the players. I had one favourite player called Brian Dux who was from Buffalo. I wanted to be like him I even grew my hair as long as my mum would let me and he even gave me his headband which I wore every time I played. Even at school sometimes . He unfortunately had a car accident in 2007 which left him paralyzed and he had to go back to New York. I've kept in contact and he's always emailing asking about my game and what I should do to improve. I wore his number (6) until 2012 when my Grandad passed away from Brain Cancer. I decided to change my number to 65 because he died at the age of 65. These two people are a big reason I've kept playing basketball. Every time I got a pair of basketball shoes I wrote #6 and 09/05/2012 #65 I like looking down and seeing that on my shoe every game especially whilst training. When I got to the age of 13 I decided to stop playing other sports such as football, cricket and tennis and focus on basketball. At the age of 13 I made the top 22 in South England for u15s after the 2012-13 season. In the 2013-14 season I broke my club season records and began to make a name for myself in my area and I made the South England u15 team and also made the Surrey County team. During the 2014-15 season I broke my previous records, including scoring 81 points in a game. In the off-season of the year I made the u17 South England team being a year younger. The next season I decided to change clubs and had 8 offers to choose from. I decided to go to Solent Kestels where I started in the u16 Premier League on the 2015-16 season in the off-season I made the South England u17 team. I then decided to go to the Charnwood College Basketball Academy, where progressed and made a name for myself as an aggressive offensive and defensive player.
I'm a strong character. Most people say that when they first met me they thought I was so shy, but then once I'm close with a person I'm completely different. I'm mostly known as the joker in my group and school, but also I'm known as to be there for friends and caring. I've been very fortunate to have been brought up by such a strong and loving family. I have had tough times like parents splitting, but it's made me stronger and also taught me a lot. My mum has always taught me right from wrong and made sure I stay on track for example, I haven't had any alcohol, smoked or drugs in my life which has been my choice and I'm proud of that.
