I had a purpose. I wanted to be one of the best basketball players I ever played.

And anything else that was outside of that lane, I didn't have time for it.

There's a quote from one of my annualist teachers at Lomarian named Mr. Fisk.

He had a great quote that said, rest at the end, not in the middle.

And that's something I always lived by. You know, I'm not going to rest. I'm going to keep on

pushing down. There are a lot of answers that I don't have. Even questions that I don't have.

But I'm just going to keep going. I'm just going to keep going. And I'll figure these things out

as you go, right? And you just continue to build that way. So I try to live by that all the time.

At what age did that goal become crystal clear? I made that deal with myself at 13 years old.

At 13 years old? 13 years old. You will, I made it clear about it. Crystal clear.

And what did inspiration come from? The love of the game.

The love of the game. The challenge. Like, I would watch Magic Play. I'd watch Michael Play.

And I would see them do these unbelievable things. And I'd say, you know,

can I get to that level? I don't know. But let's find out. Let's find out.

And so that curiosity to see where I could push this thing. Let me down that path, I think.

I had a summer where I played basketball where I was like 10 or 11 years old. And

here I come playing and I don't score one point the entire summer. Not a free throw,

not a nothing, not a lucky shot, not a breakaway layup, zero points. And I remember crying

about it and being upset about it. My father's gave me a hug and said, listen, whether you score

zero or score 60, I'm going to love you no matter what. Wow. Now that is the most important thing

that you can say to a child. Because from there, I was like, okay, it gives me all the confidence

in the world to fail. I have the security there. But to hell with that, I'm scoring 60.

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