My name is Greg Downie, I was born in Romania and moved with my family to the USA when I was 9 years old. I played the piano from a very young age and I composed my own music and I also played chess all of the time. But I was a very energetic kid that’s at least what my parents tell me my mother was born in Romania during the Communist period and my father was born in Pennsylvania and he could have played soccer in college but he chose to stay in school and study. When I was in the 4th grade I picked up my first basketball and I fell in love with the game absolutely loved everything about it but there was a problem I was not good at all. I was athletic and I was a pest on defense because I could run for hours but I was not good. And I continued to play and in the 5th grade nothing really changed except for my love of the game. In my 6th grade I started getting a little better and all of my ball handling drills were paying off I was able to score a few baskets a game and that year we went to the championship but that game I had a 104 fever and my parents wouldn’t let me play, the team lost. That summer I thought to my self that I wouldn’t be a very tall player or have insane athleticism or be incredibly strong and I had to find something that could set me apart from everyone else I started working on my shot everyday, every type of shot free throw, off balance three, catch and shoot three, midrange shots. Before I wanted to perfect the three I wanted to perfect my midrange shot because I thot if I can perfect my midrange than I’ll be able to shoot the lights out at 3. My shooting improved greatly. My 8th grade year was cut short due to Covid, but every single day I would be out on my basketball hoop playing, wishing that I could be playing a real game. I practiced hard but when I relaxed I would imagine myself in my senior year of high school with the ball in my hands and the clock running down for the championship I would do things like that all of the time. I realized that I’m not making it to the NBA from a young age but my goal and the goal to this day is to play college basketball. I am currently going to my senior year of high school,  last season I was one of the leading scorers on my school varsity team. This year we have the best talent wise team in our school history and I am going to be in that championship game with the ball in my hands taking the last shot with the clock ticking down.