Future NBA Front Office Executive by Bryce

Future NBA Front Office Executive by Bryce - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

At 6 years of age, I knew I wanted to play basketball for the National Basketball Association (NBA) because sports ran in my blood. The love for the sport stemmed from watching SportsCenter 5 in the morning with my father, laughing at Stuart Scotts jokes, and waiting 54 minutes after the hour because that is when the Top 10 plays will always come on. I had a toy basketball net in the front of the house that as soon as I came home from school I would go straight there and shoot as many shots as I could before dinner. Watching some of the best players in the NBA at the time like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Dwyane Wade, Chauncey Billups, and the list goes on and on made the game fun to watch and to dream to be them one day.

As I got older I started to train and sharpen my craft of basketball moves to break down defenders. I would play basketball for my church's league and I was the starting Point Guard for my pee-wee team. We had practice every Sunday morning from 9 a.m to 11 a.m and would play games every other Saturday night. As I was making my transition from pee-wee to Junior Varsity, it was rough because now I am the smallest on the team and I am new to their system of offense. One day at Junior Varsity practice when I was on a fastbreak I collided knees with a teammate and I hyperextended my knee. I was in so much pain because it was my first major injury and it was out of its socket for a good period of time. After that experience, my whole world flipped upside down because now my Junior Varsity season was over.

Once my knee got better for me to play basketball again my mother contacted a local basketball trainer to train me to become better for the season to come. I went to him 2 to 3 times a week and pushed myself to new heights. I started to see a progression in my skill level from dribbling with my non-dominant hand to being able to shoot 10 free throws straight. Giving my all to the sport of basketball has made my love for it a lot stronger. Being 5 foot 5 and 170 pounds had its pros and cons with the game of basketball. Pros are that I am able to stay low to the floor and have effect dribbling moves against my defenders. Cons are I am able to get blocked easily since I am so short for the game now.

In my freshman year of high school, we were given the assignment to come up with a club the might be implemented the following school year. I went back home and discussed my ideas with my mother about what I wanted and I wanted it to be sports based. I came up with a sporting club that would help all age groups exercise and have fun getting better at their specialty sport. That is when my dream started to become a picture in my head. I wanted to be in charge of a sporting organization and I knew exactly which one, the National Basketball Association.

Since my freshman year of high school, I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. The love for the game of basketball I believe stemmed my vision for my goal in life. Since then I have pushed myself in every class that I have had because I know the job I want will not come easy so I have to keep pushing to reach that job. The job I want is to be the President of Basketball Operations of an American Basketball Team, which requires me to make trades, contract negotiations with free agents, make future plans for the team, make sure the players are happy, have a great player development system and to have a productive program.

I think my 6-year-old self would be happy to see where I am leading us because for me to already have the love for basketball and to go on a crazy journey from injury to training just to have the dream of becoming an NBA Front Office Executive is great.