At first, I hated basketball. My father attempted to start me young by coaching me on how to shoot. I could not do it at first and I thought the travel ruling was plain old dumb so I decided I never wanted anything to do with basketball. However, that was only in the third grade and until I would arrive at what was Mesa Preparatory Academy, which is now known as Arete Preparatory Academy, in the sixth grade all of that would change. I was definitely not the most popular kid or the most athletic, in fact I was considered fat. In my first year there I played football and baseball. The only dabble of basketball I got was during our hour long lunch breaks. I quickly discovered that all the "cool" kids played and were "good" at basketball. I attempted to interact with them through basketball but I was unsuccessful in my attempts. I was terrible and nobody wanted to ever be on my team. These attempts only led to me getting bullied and made fun of even more. I decided then that I had to get back at them by eventually getting better than them at their own game. This can sort of seem like a vengeful path but I found it as a calling. I would not gloat in my success when or if it ever came. So, the next year I decided to play for our middle school team. I ended up playing football again but not baseball. The reason I did not play baseball was due to a situation where the coach singled out my brother for being bad at the sport directly to my mother. He was sort of right about my brother being bad. However, he was not a good coach so it was really his fault. The sad thing was that this coach was also the basketball B team coach and I was going to be on the B team. My parents were hesitant since he was the coach but my father loves basketball and he really wanted to share that love with me. I ended up playing and so began my journey in the competitive basketball world. I ended up being the sixth man, until after the first game I earned my spot on the starting line as the center. I did not really contribute by scoring and I did not really grow as a player either. There is a reason that I was not growing as a player though. My school, Mesa Prep, was terrible in the athletics department and it continues to this day still. No coach I have ever had at Mesa/Arete Prep has had the knowledge of how to develop players. Skipping to freshman year, I was still getting bullied and my life was still miserable. I continued striving for that success in athleticism and social skills. My dad at this time started having me lift weights and play basketball outside of school. There was no visible effects from these experiences but then again I was still to casual about growth in athleticism. I had an okay freshman season as JV for myself as I averaged 2 points or something of the sort. In previous seasons I had struggled to get a bucket every game so this was huge for me but not enough. But, I still needed much more in order to prove my "haters" wrong. I pushed myself even more that off season than I ever had done before. I ended up making varsity that next year as a sophomore due to our school only having one senior that year. Basketball was at a very strange position for our school from then on. The juniors above my class had players but only really one true basketball player. My class of sophomores was by far much better than those juniors, other than that one player. We had four spots filled as guaranteed starters and one position which was rotated to many different players including myself. I never started on varsity at that spot but I subbed in for only one to three minutes a game for the other juniors. I was always competing with them for the spot and I even when I would do better my coach would not notice me. Near the end of the season they sent me to play down on the JV team. The JV team was full of "noobs" and they still have to this day not grown as basketball players. They were win less up until I came down. I began to shine as a player in JV. The first game I played I scored 10 points, an all time high for me. The next game I dropped 17 and we won. I ended up growing offensively because I finally had confidence. The next game I dropped 15 points and I led our team to a comeback win with two back to back 3's in the fourth quarter. I was also sick that game so I was astonished. I finally began to see the fruits of my labor. The varsity coach had all the other juniors come down to JV near the end of the season and they performed nowhere close to me. I thought this is my chance to finally have a spot on varsity. However, my varsity coach seemed to not favor me in anything. I did decent on varsity but not stellar. I scored maybe once or twice off of a 3 but never a 2 pointer. My varsity team was a mess because our coach did not grow us as a team at all. He had us run plays sorely reliant on the 3 pointers. Our team was not a good enough shooting team to succeed from this. We were getting crushed every game. We went 0-17 as a team. I was so furious at how I was still getting ignored not only by my "haters" who were my teammates but by my coach as well. I was no all star but I was still usable and they cast me away every time. Once again I worked my tail off in the off season to grow athletically. I succeeded to new bounds in basketball and my physical capabilities. I was now 6'0" tall, pretty  strong, no longer fat, and best of all I had a very competitive vertical. I was finally able to compete and beat my "haters" in their own game. I call them my "haters" because we are friends now in a way but they still hate on me and doubt me. I was no longer getting bullied like I was in middle school but they still  talk bad of me. To this day it is still aggravating to me. I am kind to them and I am a kind person to everyone, yet there is this reputation I will always have here at Arete which will always haunt me. That reputation is that of a fat, unathletic, and antisocial loser. I have been trying to prove everyone wrong ever since sixth grade. Anyways back to basketball, I ended up starting varsity my junior year. All the previous juniors, now seniors, who played in my sophomore year all left but one. The one who stayed was the one true basketball player of that class. Once again, we had only one senior. My coach started me my junior year as the 3 or small forward not because he thought I was good, but to encourage another player to step up and take that spot. Our coach eventually pulled me out of the starting five. The starting five were not composed of all the right choices. We had 4 spots rightfully filled but there was one spot that should have been mine. This probably sounds incredibly cocky and egotistical but I am right of this. My coach had a football player play the center position as a 6'0" rough houser who could not contribute to anything other than rebounds. I have no problem with this player myself, in fact we are really good friends. I felt cheated game after game. After the first half of the season, I got one minute of play time a game if I was lucky. I could easily contribute more to the team in 5 minutes than he could the whole game so I was incredibly furious. I felt wasted, forgotten, and abandoned. I was going through the most depressing part of my life during this. Not even in middle school when I was bullied daily was I so sad. I love basketball now and I felt that all my dedication and hard work got me nothing. I wanted to quit my team and transfer schools. I do not hate my teammates or my coach but I will always have these bad memories on my mind. I can't help but always feel hated and looked down upon by these people. I see these people everywhere I go so these memories follow me  everywhere I go. The season was not yet over when yet again my coach moves me to JV because the JV team has a terrible record. The JV was composed of mostly freshman who think they know how to play but don't actually. I played the center as the tallest player on the team. I played guard throughout HS but I had worked on post moves a lot with my father in the off season so I was ready to dominate. My freshman teammates were very selfish and they rarely passed me the ball. The went about the game by resorting to 3 pointers and taking foolish shots. This only added to my misery at the time. I would always be contributing on defense but I would never get the ball on offense unless I got a rebound or a steal from defense. After this last season, my drive has increased ten fold. I am now more of an offensive threat than I have ever been. My defense is the best it has ever been. Lastly, I can almost dunk and this is all the fruits of my labor. I still experience hate and doubt to this day in my basketball life and social life but I am used to it. At the end of the day, I am used to all this misery. I hold it against no one but I always have faith that this may change. As my final senior season rapidly approaches, I am more than able to dominate and change my world for the better. I am ready to prove everyone wrong and finally to accomplish my 6th grade self's goal. I am so anxious to see what life has in store for me and I know whatever happens I will be fine. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I am certainly missing a lot but there is only so much that words can express.