Zion’s one of my closest friends, and if you know him then you know basketball is like his whole world. He’s always talking about it, always playing, always trying to get better. I asked him about it one time, and he kept it real with me. He said, “Bro, if you wanna make it to college or higher, you can’t be lazy. You gotta put in work every single day.” And I believe him, because I see him grinding all the time.

He told me basketball isn’t just about skill either, it’s mental too. Like, you could be the best shooter in the gym, but if you let one mistake mess you up, you done for the rest of the game. Zion said, “If you miss a shot or turn it over, you gotta shake it off and move on. That’s what makes you better.” And honestly, that hit me, because it’s true even outside of basketball—you can’t let one bad thing ruin your whole day.

He also talked about the ups and downs that come with hooping. The pros are easy to see, like winning games, scoring points, or just seeing how much you improved since last time. But the cons hit different too. He said sometimes it’s tiring, sometimes it feels like nobody notices how hard you’re working, and sometimes you just wanna chill but can’t. But Zion told me, “At the end of the day, if you love the game, you keep pushing.”

What I respect about him is he doesn’t just talk about wanting to be good, he actually shows it. He’s the type to put in those late nights and early mornings when nobody’s watching. He said, “You don’t get nowhere by just saying you want it. You gotta show up and do it.” And that’s real.

That’s why Zion inspires me. He shows me basketball is more than just a sport, it’s about discipline and working for what you want. Watching him makes me realize that if you really got a dream, you can’t take shortcuts. You gotta grind for it, even when it gets tough. And that’s exactly what he does every day.