March 7, 2004, is the day Isaiah Dean Brown was born. I grew up in Queens, NY with my mom who was such a blessing in my life. The life lessons she taught me, the was she had shown me how to love, the hard work I’ve seen her do to provide for me and my brother inspired me. Same for my dad. He has taught me responsibility, respect, and many other important aspects of life. And I’m very grateful for the support and love my parents have shown me through your my life in anything I did. My first sport I’ve ever participated in was baseball. I was 5-6 years old. My nickname was “slugger” because of how hard I used to hit the ball. Everyone was surprised, mainly because of how young I was. As time went on I moved on and started playing football. From 9-13 I’ve had a lot of fun on that field. From winning rookie player of the year the first year I’ve played football, I left a good impression on a lot of people within my community. The next year I won MVP of my team and made it to the championship game. Unfortunately I ended up losing the game, but it was a life lesson I had to learn. I had the opportunity to leave state and play in a tournament in florida, unfortunately we had no success in that tournament either. I ended up switching teams and found myself going through mental challenges about the game of football with that organization. My first year we made it to the playoffs, but lost in the first round. I was unfortunately hurt for the last game due to a concussion I suffered the practice before the playoff game. That concussion left me to sit out my 12 year old year. I was always the banging type of player. I loved to hit people and lay them out. But that hit mentally messed me up. My 13 year old year, I was not as good as I once used to be. The MVP running back, the hard hitting line backer, who made opponents fear coming my way, wasn’t there anymore. During my year off I didn’t work on my body, nor my craft towards the game of football, I just relied on my athleticism to carry my success. Which doesn’t work when everyone else grows and matures the same way you do. I find Kd’s quote very inspiring to me whenever I get in a lazy star of mind. “Hard-work beats talent when talent fails to work hard”. That was just another life lesson I had to learn. Fast forward to the end of my 13 year old season, we went to the championship game but lost 20-6 in a hard fought game. That concluded my middle school athletic career. The beginning of my 9th grade I choose to put the helmet down and and pick up the basketball. I went to Eagle Academy for young men of southeast queens to start off my Highschool career.  I struggled my 9th grade year, since it was my first time playing organized basketball. I knew I had the potential to be good at playing had I just put the work in. On Jv we did not have playoffs. We just played our games and moved on to the next year. School it self was a good year. I could of done better but I finished off with an 82 gpa. Moving on to my 10th grade year is when I moved to Long Island with my father and switched schools. It was a huge adjustment due to the variety of people in the area. In Queens it’s mainly African Americans in a tight space, always busy. In Long Island, there are mainly Caucasian people. In the school there is a variety of people to interact with. Which I felt was a good thing I experienced. See the type of people to keep around you and who to leave alone. Academically my grades were better and basketball was fun. For our Jv team we were very successful. Winning 18 of our 22 games, everyone got to enjoy theirselves made me love basketball more than ever. A few months later COVID-19 put the entire world on pause. Leaving everyone including myself as to what was next. I ended my 10th grade year with a 88 gpa. 11th grade year was our recovery from covid. The mask mandate, the wonders on if we were having a season or not wondered through the air until January when we knew for sure we were bound to have a season. In such a small time notice we had 3 weeks to prepare for a month long season. Which was very difficult, adding to the fact that I had a back injury that affected my game tremendously. We ended the season with a 1-7 record. It was unfortunate for the seniors that I’ve played with. I was very thankful for the opportunity of learning the do’s and don’ts of varsity basketball. I was awarded the most improved player and the “iron man” award due to my hustle and never give up attitude on the court. I decided to join an AAU team called “premiere” and had a blast with my teammates. I have gained knowledge on the game itself and worked on my craft. All In preparation for my senior year. I finished my junior year with a 86 gpa. During the summer I worked out with a trainer and joined a PAL league. In that league I won MVP and won the tournament championship. Now I await my senior year, eager to win every game I play in. Determined to win a Long Island championship for my school.