“There are many people that we meet in our lives. But only a very few will make a lasting impression on our minds and hearts.” ~ Susan Polis Schutz
Heyy Basketball Spotlight World,
I hate that my time is already up, but this is my final week of The Diary of A Baller. It’s been 8 weeks sharing my baller's life with the Basketball Spotlight Community, and everyone who has tuned in! I would like to say Thank You one more time to Mr. Mike Melton and the Basketball Spotlight Community for having me as a Diary of a Baller feature, it’s definitely an honor. Without further ado, I present to you my last entry of The Diary of A Baller! I hope you enjoyed these past 7 weeks with me, and I hope you like this last week, I have a different type of week!
Sunday ~ I woke up around 10:30 a.m. this morning, and made breakfast. I made bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches for my family. After making breakfast, I started studying film on Kyrie Irving, and Ja Morant to know they’re moves/movements so I can implement them in my game. I went outside after studying them and their footwork, and worked on some of the moves that they use and worked on it while I was outside. Once I finished working, It was around 3 o’clock, so I went back inside and started watching tv with my little brother. I took a nap around 4 because I have workouts at 6 p.m. today. By the time I woke up, it was time for me to get ready for training. It was a skill work day, and I did some conditioning as well. My legs were burning by the time I finished workouts, but it was a good one. I worked on shooting on the move, and off the ball. By the time I got home, it was around 8 o’clock, and I got everything ready for school the next day. I ate dinner, did my chores then watched tv with my brother until it was time for bed. I finished the rest of my pull-ups and push-ups before going to sleep!
Monday ~ This morning I woke up and made myself breakfast. I had a smoothie, and toast then I grabbed a Body Armor for the day. Sadly, I didn’t have workouts today because of another set of school exams being set up in the main gym, but I was in the smaller gym by myself working on my perimeter shot. I had my music playing, and I was in my safe spot. It felt amazing, and I finished around 5:25 p.m. By the time I got home it was around 6 o’clock, so I finished my chores then started my homework. It took me about 2 hours to finish my homework. So, the time was around 8 p.m., and I started to get my stuff ready for school. I chilled in my room with my little brother, and then I was on the phone with some friends from school before we all went to bed. Oh yeah, I made sure to finish my reps for my pull-ups and push-ups.
Tuesday ~ I woke up around 7 a.m. this morning, and started getting ready for school. I ended up staying after school to get another workout in, and it was in the same gym. I worked on my handles for about 30 minutes, and then started shooting for the rest of the workout. I worked on my floaters, mid range jumpers and my perimeter game. My mom came to pick me up around 5:30 p.m. again. By the time I got home, I started doing my homework, and I had a lot for this week which annoyed me. Well after I finished my homework I started to work on my handles again outside using the medicine ball because earlier in my workout I didn't have my tennis ball nor my medicine balls. Once I finished my workout, I ate dinner and chilled on my phone. I did my pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups etc., and watched a little bit of anime with my little brother until it was time for bed.
Wednesday ~ I ran my personal best today for a mile and my time was 6’38’’ and I was hype but tired. My legs were already starting to burn, and this was just the warmup. I worked on my legs at training this morning, and did a lot of resistance bands with my legs. When I finished workouts, I went to school, and the day went by quickly especially since today was our half day. To top it off, lunch was good, I had spaghetti. By the time school ended at 1:30 p.m., I was back in the gym until around 3 o’clock. I was working on my handles for about 30 minutes with some of my upcoming teammates for next year. Then we all hopped on the gun and shot until we all left. We put up nearly 500 shots with about 150-160 for each person. When my mom picked me up, we went to the store to find something for graduation. Yo, I was tired, so I fell asleep as soon as I got in the car. When I got home it was around 5 o’clock, so I went outside before it was pouring and worked on my handles. I was using my medicine ball, and using 2 balls to work on hand eye coordination. After working on my handles I came back inside and started my homework. Once I finished my homework it was around 7 o’clock, so I started helping with dinner again. I made chicken alfredo with my mom, and it was delicious! After eating I got my stuff ready for school and chilled on my phone until I went to sleep. I did the rest of my push-ups and pull-ups before sleeping well.
Thursday ~ This morning I ran about a 7’00” mile today, but my legs were so heavy. It was hard running up to my ½ mile marker at first, but coming back to the starting point I did so much better. I worked on my legs again today, and I was killing the workout, and of course my legs were on fire. When I got to school I was cramping, but my teachers let me stretch during class which was good. I didn’t stay for long to workout today because my mom had to do something right after I had school, so I left around 4 o’clock. I was excited towards the end of the day. When I got home, I saw that my friend Jeriah and the Head of my School, Dr. Hawkey had made a Tik Tok video. The video stated how we have off from school tomorrow. It’s Kingswood Day, and I assume you are wondering what Kingswood Day is. The tale of Kingswood Day is in 1963 Dr. A. B. Sackett, the Headmaster of the Kingswood School in England came to visit Pennington. During his visit, he introduced one-day holidays, and therefore now Kingswood Day is a day off holiday for our school. They have been continuing this tradition since that day. Later in the afternoon I went shopping with my mom to find the rest of my outfit for graduation. We didn’t find anything else, but we got different ideas from looking around. I got my brother and I some new Nike shorts for the summer while shopping though. Once we got home, I started doing homework, then when I finished my homework I went outside to put some work in before it started raining. This was when it was dry but gloomy outside. By the time I finished, I went back in the house, and helped make dinner. After helping out with dinner I watched about 2-3 movies back to back with my family before going to sleep!
Friday ~ I had off today, “KINGSWOOD DAY!!!”, so I woke up around 11. I slept in this morning, and after waking up I felt refreshed. After I woke up, I started cleaning up our patio before it started pouring. My parents wanted me to do that before it pours because this weekend is Memorial Day Weekend, and we want to use the grill for cooking. After cleaning, I started doing homework that’s due next week, and after finishing homework I made lunch for my family. My brother was mad that I didn’t have school and how I have a 4 day weekend instead of a 3 like him. It was funny, but I decided to make chicken salad for lunch. It was good, but I waited for some time so that my food could be digested before training. I had training at 4:45 p.m., and I worked on floaters, transition moves, and mid-range jumpers. After workouts I got home and got all of my stuff ready for tomorrow because I have AAU practice early in the morning. By the time I got everything together, I was on the game until 11:30pm. I finished my night with 100 push-ups, and 100 pull-ups.
Saturday ~ I woke up at 7:00 a.m. this morning for practice at 9:45 with my AAU team (NY Rens). We have a tournament next weekend, and we need to prepare for it. Once I got to practice, we changed into our practice uniforms then got to doing some skill work before we started actual practice. We worked on all of our plays. Towards the end of practice we played King of the Hill and it was pretty fun but very tiring. We finished off practice by running a”17” then talking about what’s next down the line for our season. When my dad and I got home around 2:40, I ate lunch as soon as I got settled down. After eating, I took a nap because I had training at 6 p.m. with Jared. I slept until 5, so we could get out the door since it’s been raining all day. At training I was on the gun, and I made 610 shots. I made 600 from the perimeter, and mid-range. I couldn’t feel my arms or my legs throughout training, but for an hour and half making 610 shots is pretty good in my books. We stopped at Wawa after training to get some drinks and snacks, but when I came home my brother and mom made dinner. I ate dinner while talking to my mom about how my day went. After talking, I ended up playing the game until around 12 with some friends from school. I finished the rest of my 100 push-ups and 100 pull-ups before ending off the night with watching some tv with my little brother.
Sunday ~ I woke up around 9:30 a.m. this morning. I thanked God for waking me, and I did my daily routine. Next, I went to my parent’s room to talk about the rest of my outfit for graduation. I found what I wanted, but my mom said I had to clean my room before leaving. I cleaned up my room before getting ready to leave out with my mom to find clothes, and go grocery shopping. Once we got home it was around 12 o’clock, so I made myself a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich then got ready for training with Jared at 2 p.m. Today was a skill workout, and we worked on a lot of PNR (Pick-N-Roll) options/situations I would be in. Also, working on shooting off the dribble, off the kick out, and catch and shoot. The end of the workouts I talked to Jared about my plans for the summer, and what we are expecting to come my way. Once we got home, I ordered what I wanted from our favorite Chinese restaurant, then I took a nap. I woke up 20 minutes prior to the food being ready, so I went to go help out my parents with sorting out the food. After eating it was around 7 p.m., so I was stretching and was chilling until I felt like playing the game. I was on Instagram and playing Clash Royal until I watched a movie with my family. Once the movie was over I played the game with my family until we all went to bed. Have a Happy Memorial Day!!
Thank You Again!!!
This experience and opportunity was so much fun. By submitting my entries for 8 weeks for The Diary of A Baller, It actually makes you hold yourself accountable and gives you a better way to track all the hard work you actually put in for yourself. Well, I like to say investing in myself because I want to accomplish all my dreams and goals, especially having a great basketball career, playing high level college ball at one of my many dream schools!!
