Trusting the Process

Growing up I used to watch my brother, Stratman, play sports. I wasn’t playing at the time but I knew I wanted to. 

My mom always had us at Church every Sunday. I would wear dresses and after Church go out and play with my brother in my dress. It got to the point where I was like, hold on I think I actually like this sports thing.

I played almost every sport you could think of, but my heart was literally with basketball. 

Basketball has always been fun for me. I never thought about the stress it comes with or the awards. I just worked hard and I liked working hard. My Dad taught me how to work hard and what he instilled in me carried over into my basketball game. 

When I was younger I used to love going to camps. Reflecting back on this time in my life inspired me to host my own camp. The camp allowed me to come back to my hometown of Toledo, Ohio and give back to my community. 

I have been able to show them the training that’s helped me and the love and family I’ve always felt with basketball. Seeing all the kids work hard and get excited at the camp is what it's all about. 

College championship experience

Training with a championship mindset has been super important for me and my team. Coach will ask us all the time, ‘what do we think it would take to win a national championship?’ and I would just say for us to go out there and know we can’t do anything but win a national championship. 

Not everyone has a championship mindset. You either have it or you don’t. It’s something that’s within you, whether you have heart or if you don’t. That’s something that’s always been in me, I hate losing. It’s not something that I’m a fan of and I think that my team is full of competitors that wanna get better and see each other get better. A winning mentality is something we’ve always had.

If I could give my younger self some advice I’d say, relax. When I was younger I wanted it all at once. As I got older I realized that it’s a process, you have to enjoy it and go through everything it takes to get there. Fall in love with your journey. Fall in love with your process.