A Basketball Diary: Aniyah Riddell In Her Own Words
Dear diary, without hope, you have nothing. I thank God that my faith in him is strong and as of right now, although the cards may be stacking against me, I know he has a plan for me and will…
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Continue ReadingDear diary, without hope, you have nothing. I thank God that my faith in him is strong and as of right now, although the cards may be stacking against me, I know he has a plan for me and will be there to guide me every step of the way. Sometimes it feels like I can’t get a break; a teacher of mine always finds a way to have a problem with me no matter how respectful I am towards her, I dropped in rankings for the class of 2024, and am faced with learning how to lead a team with vast personalities.
It is that time of the year again…you guessed it, finals and ‘tis the season of anxiety. For as long as I can remember, the standard in my household was straight A’s and I have kept it ever since. My freshman year I had a 4.0 GPA, my sophomore year was no different, and as I am approaching the end of the first semester of my junior year, everything is going according to plan except for my 5th period. I have a high B in that class and sorry to break it to you, a B isn’t good enough for me. I work my tail off in that class, I always email the teacher and check out the class calendar whenever I am absent, and I complete as much extra credit as I can.
Don’t get me wrong I can read and write very well but this teacher finds any little thing to take away as many points as she can. It has gotten to the point where I had to send a very respectful but stern email which I had cc’d my mother and counselor on. She waited until the next day to talk to me and correct me of the “false” accusations I apparently “accused” her of. I finished the conversation with her and immediately scheduled a time with my counselor to take my second semester of English online.
So boom, I get one problem out of the way and another smacks me across the face. I drop in the rankings. I’m not one to be super focused on checking my ranking everyday or believing that what you’re ranked determines your worth as a player because to put it frankly it doesn’t. It’s like these rankings are based off of stats and anyone can have crazy numbers when they’re not playing REAL competition. I believe that being a great basketball player isn’t just about skills, you have to have the IQ, the maturity, and the coachability to tie everything together; and the people who are in charge of rankings should come to the games and watch these prospects and how their presence changes the impact and atmosphere of the game.
But that’s just the perspective of a sixteen year old highschooler who has only been playing basketball for almost 4 years.
Some can agree and some won’t, but I feel that my claim is valid. To add to my season of obstacles, I’ve come back to playing highschool ball from prep. It’s the same school but a totally different team than I remember when I left. We have more components to work with this season and I feel like we can get a ring with the talent we have here, but we all have to build our chemistry in games and in practice. As a Captain, I am responsible for the team’s attitude, the energy, intensity, and focus. Playing without these attributes will hinder any team no matter how much talent it possesses.
I’ve learned how to be leader from some pretty dope aau teammates of mine and right now, I feel confident in leading my highschool team but now I need everyone to dial in, and feel confident in being lead. As I’m sharing my knowledge of the game of basketball to my teammates who are learning while we go, I am also learning how everyone can’t be talked to the same. Adjusting, learning, and improving is what this year, so far, has shown us what we need to be doing. God has put a lot on my plate but I’m hungry and will get through any obstacles with Him by my side.