“Being loud doesn’t make you a leader - being heard does.” ~ Amilya Antonetti
Hello Basketball Spotlight World,
This is DJay Snead again, and I want to welcome you to Week 2 of My Diary of a Baller. I hope you enjoy reading this week's entry as much as you did reading my first week. This is how my week went!!
Sunday ~ I woke up today at 10:10 am and thanked the Lord for blessing me. I proceeded to brush my teeth, shower, and get myself ready for the day. I finished 100 pushups, and 200 calf raises this morning before going to training. I am starting to do 1,000 calf raises every day. I wanted to try this for a month straight, and see the difference in my legs. I had workouts at 11:00 a.m. with Coach Ross. Today we worked on my speed. Changing directions, and changing speeds was the main focus point for this session. I had another training session at 3:00 pm with Coach Jared, and we worked on shooting and conditioning. I worked on 3’s, mid-range, and floaters. From my first session with Coach Ross, my legs were dead throughout my second session. Coach Jared said it was good that my legs were tired because this would make my session more effective. After training, my dad and I went to get some ice so I can take an ice bath to help speed up my body recovery, and help relieve my sore muscles from training all week. By the time I finished my ice bath, it was around 8:00 p.m. so, I started to get my stuff ready for school. I got ready for school by getting my clothes together, putting my gear in my lacrosse bag, and charging up all my electronics. Once I finished that, I watched all of the NYC Invitational games on Day 2. I watched the NY Rens, NY Jayhawks, NY Gauchos, and the Riverside Hawks. I was able to see all of my Rens family play again. When the games were over, I finished the rest of my pushups, and calf raises before going to sleep.
Monday ~ I started off my day early, and got on the elliptical. I did 3 miles, showered and then I was on my way to school. I had lacrosse practice today. We worked on footwork and shooting. I got picked up from lacrosse then headed home. I got home around 4:55 p.m. I got in the shower and then started doing my homework. After my homework was completed, I settled down until the Sixers game came on. After watching the Sixers win, I did 100 more pushups, and finished the day off with 400 pushups. I finished another set of 500 taps for jump rope, and the rest of my calf raises. I finished a paragraph for my essay, then I layed on my back working on my shooting form before I went to bed!
Tuesday ~ I did my daily routine, then I did 100 pushups, and 200 calf raises. I dribbled in the morning and worked on dribbling with my eyes closed. I got in the shower, then I made myself a bowl of cereal before going to school. I had lacrosse practice, and we worked on passing and shooting on our goalie. Over the past few weeks, I got better with passing and shooting. It was around 6:00 p.m., and I was doing my homework. I was working on my essay that is due on Sunday. I had Science and Spanish to do as well. I had to prepare for a new lab we were working on in Science. Spanish homework was on IR verbs. After I completed all my homework, I worked on some of my cradlings for lacrosse, worked on my off-hand, and started watching Paul Rabil’s YouTube videos. Paul Rabil is an American professional lacrosse player with the Cannons Lacrosse Club of the Premier Lacrosse League, which he co-founded. Once I finished, it was around 8:00 p.m., so I did the dishes and the rest of my chores. By the time I finished, it was 8:30. At that moment, I started to get some work on my basketball handles by working on my touches and combos. I finished my night off by doing pushups and calf raises.
Wednesday ~ I was looking forward to this day. I got up early and finished 110 push ups and 250 calf raises. I had a half day for school. After my school day went by it was 1:00 pm and my mom came to pick me up. On the way home, we stopped at Starbucks and got ourselves a Pink drink. After we finished our drinks we went to the store. Once I got home, I jumped in the shower and started my homework. After I finished my homework, I got ready for Varsity workouts that were starting at 5:30 p.m. This was our first offseason workout for Pennington. We brought in an outside trainer to work with us since our coach isn’t allowed to work with us during the offseason. We followed all COVID school protocols! This was my first workout with some players from the team. It was a great workout. The atmosphere was amazing. We stretched, then started to work on some ball handling. We worked on ball handling for about 10-12 minutes. The ball handling of our workout was good. The next set of drills were conditioning drills working on layups. We would be under the rim, then dribble between our legs, behind our back backwards then go lay the ball up. We did this ten times on each side. After that we worked on our mid- range and floaters coming out of our PNR (Pick and Roll) series. The last thing we did was 12-up and backs in 3 minutes. I made the time, but was tired after running. I then went 30/34 from the free throw line. Next thing I did was go 20/25 shooting 3’s from every spot on the floor. I shot from the corner’s, wing’s, and the top of the key. I left (clocked-out) the gym around 7 p.m. I got home and showered and then did my chores. Around 8 o’clock, I started my English homework and finished my 3rd body paragraph for my essay. Finishing at 9 o’clock, I did my calf raises, pushups, and then went to bed.
Thursday ~ My early morning workout with Coach Dana was a great workout. We worked on my speed and vertical jumps. Currently, I have a 28-inch vertical, and that number will rise in no time! I had lacrosse practice today as well. We worked on 2v1 drills, 1v1 drills, etc. My favorite part of practice was when I hit a nasty side shot against my teammate. Once I got home, I worked my basketball footwork outside. Once I finished my workout, I came inside, did my chores and finished my homework. I had little homework today. It was about 8:30 when I started to do the dishes. After I finished the dishes, I played a couple of games with my friend on 2k. We would play on Hall of Fame and do all-time teams. I was cooking him so bad he left half of the matches we played. He ended up getting off, so then I chilled and watched the new Tom and Jerry movie with my family. Tom and Jerry were pretty funny. I always love spending time with my family. Before going to sleep, I finished my pushups and calf raises.
Friday ~ Today was a dress-down day. Every week we are on campus, there’s at least one spirit day for school. Since it was spirit day, we were able to wear anything that said Pennington on it, or any student playing Spring sports were allowed to wear their jerseys or team apparel. I decided to wear my Lacrosse jersey for today. I stayed after practice to watch the Girls Lacrosse Varsity game. A lot of my JP’s are on the team, so I went to support them. A JP is referred to as a Junior Proctor (11th grader) that teams up with all of middle school students, and does activities together. However, for 8th grade it is different because they get us mentally ready for our Freshman year. The girls won, beating George School 11-1. During halftime, I went to the gym to go put up some shots with my friends. I was amazed with myself after being in the gym. This is because I kind of dunked a lob. My friend threw the ball off the backboard, and I ran to go dunk, but the ball slipped out my hands in the air as I tried to dunk the ball. The ball went through the hoop and I made it. I didn’t think I was going to get up that high. After halftime, we went back to the field to watch the rest of the game. I got home by 7:00 p.m., I did my chores as soon as I got home. I worked on my handles for about half an hour. I worked on my cradling, and I learned a new lacrosse move from watching Paul Rabil on YouTube. I finished my calf raises and pushups. Then I was on the game for the rest of the night while being on the phone. I went to bed around midnight.
Saturday ~ I woke up around 9:00 a.m. this morning. I then watched the 15U, 16U, and 17U games from "The Scrimmage" for Day 1 that was streaming by Synergy Grassroots. The Scrimmage was hosted by Team Final. The teams that were in the Scrimmage were the NY Rens, City Rocks EYBL, Team Final, Team Final Red, K-Low Elite, and Team Melo EYBL. I did 300 calf raises, and 125 pushups after watching the games. My brother and I got new sweatshirts from Kappa. I washed them and did all of our laundry. Next, I was in the kitchen with my mom making lunch. We made Turkey burgers and fries. I had training at 5 o’clock with Coach Jared. I worked on shooting off the move, and our PNR series. When I got home, I finished watching some of the scrimmages. I took a good 2-hour nap, “needed that lol”!! When I woke up, it was time to eat dinner. I had sautéd chicken with roasted onions and peppers. To top it off, we had baked potatoes. I went and hopped on the game. I was playing Call of Duty and won with some random people. I got off the game, then was on the phone with my friends from school playing Crazy 8. Once we all finished, I did some pushups and calf raises, then headed to bed.
See you guys next week on Diary of a Baller ~ DJay’s Edition!!
