Who is Michael Jordan? Well, if you don’t already know who Michael Jordan is you must live in a box. Anyway, Michael Jordan is known as one of the best basketball players in the world, also known as the super-duper-star guard for the Chicago Bulls. Jordan was a 6’6″ guard with a magnificent shot, strong defensive skills, and a competitive killer instinct. Michael Jordan was born on February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York. Jordan attended Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, where he highlighted his athletic career by playing basketball, baseball, and football. Michael then continued his career at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1981-1984. Jordan won the NCAA Championship in 82′ following with ACC rookie of the year in 82′. In Jordan’s last year of college, he won two important awards, ACC Athlete of the year, and ACC Men’s Basketball Player of the year. After Jordan’s college career he went into the 1984 NBA Draft; Jordan was picked third by the Chicago Bulls. That day was the day the NBA had changed. Michael Jordan won a ton of accomplishments in his NBA career. He won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award five times and led the Chicago Bulls to the league championship six times. Michael Jordan led the Bulls to his first three championships in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Jordan and the Bulls then won three more championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Jordan made himself a well-known basketball player and will always be remembered as the GOAT.
Michael Jordan is my Idol for many reasons, such as he’s a tremendous athlete, he never gave up, he always strived and chased after success and excellence. There’s one story in particular that allows me to look up to Michael Jordan. We know Michael Jordan as the greatest basketball player of all time, but he didn’t start out at the top. Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school varsity basketball team as a sophomore. Michael Jordan was 5’10 and the head coach had told him he wasn’t tall enough to play varsity. That didn’t stop Jordan from becoming who he has become today. The reason I truly connect with this story is because I went through a similar situation like this before. I was in the process of trying out/ making the
In 2013-2014 I started YSC Academy as an 8th grader. I was in the Union Junior Academy for 5 years. The steps I had planned for myself was to attend YSC Academy and be recruited for the Philadelphia Union Academy . I attended many training sessions to be looked at and I thought it was all going well and received some positive feedback. I thought I was in the process of making it. The Philadelphia Union Academy picked 18 kids and took them to Qatar to play in an international tournament. I was part of the 18 kids who were selected. When I found out I had been selected I was extremely happy but I knew I had to play well in the games to make the team. I ended up starting in both games and playing every minute. I played great and had two assist. I was extremely confident I was going to make the team but then on June 6th everything went downhill. I had a meeting with the two Union coaches to find out I didn’t make it. After I heard this terrible news I was destroyed.
My experience made me rethink all of my decisions, why I chose to attend YSC Academy and if I wanted to continue playing soccer. It wasn’t until speaking to my parents specifically my father to realize Jordan experienced a similar situation that I was going through. Many days, nights, weeks that turned into months I was contemplating what does my future hold and who makes those decisions. I thought about the various goals I had and how would they be achieved. What steps did I have to take in stages to get to where I wanted to be. So I made some short term goals and long term goals. I decided to not allow what happened to me to determine my future. I decided to work harder. I kept telling myself “I have got to prove them wrong”. Every practice and every scrimmage, I have to approach them as if it was my last time touching the soccer ball. It wasn’t until months later that I believed everything happened for a reason and God was testing me, just like how he tested Michael Jordan. I decided I was going to take control of my future.
Situations happen in life. The goals and paths we design for ourselves sometimes get derailed without our permission. Ultimately no one can control the outcome of your future but yourself. A Michael Jordan quote that I live by is “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” This quote can relate to anything. When I first read this quote I thought about courage. To me it’s all about what you’re willing to do, putting in the time and hard work, to be the best. It’s not about giving up once you fail, but how you’re going to keep on trying and not give up until you succeed. I believe that is how champions are made! My parents shared a more religious and spiritual quote with me when I experienced my let down in soccer and now I would like to share it with you. “God is getting you prepared right now for something bigger than you ever imagined, something more rewarding than you ever dreamed. If you’ll keep honoring Him, being a person of excellence and prophesying victory, you’re going to see it all come together.”
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