The Supportive Mother

One morning when I was 12, my mom woke me up at like 5:00am to get in shape. She had me running up and down the court every time I missed a free-throw, then had me doing push ups to get me stronger. My mom was the real role model of my life. She went to a high school in Michigan and played varsity basketball for a school called Central, and when she first showed me the life of basketball I hated it. I was one of them bad little kids that wanted to smoke and hang with my friends every day and stay out and rap, but my mom, she made me do something she knew I would have a passion for and made sure I stayed out the streets. 

One time I tried out for the basketball team at a school called Washington in Minnesota but I didn’t make the team because I wasn’t really a good basketball player. Some people laughed at me because they knew I didn’t play basketball. Why would I even try out after that I went home to my mom in shame. After telling her what happened she looked sad for a minute and told me,”Well maybe next year”. After that I went in my room and got down on my knees and cried and prayed to God to help me get better then I went to sleep in tears. The next morning I knew I had to make this my number one goal to get better so all summer long, all I did was play basketball 24/7 to get better. I worked on how high I can jump, my speed with the ball, my strength, ball handling, defense, and stamina, because at the time I had asthma so I couldn’t go that far. So I suffered at what I had thought would be endless night of pain not using my inhaler. I stopped using my breathing machine no matter how hard it was for me or how much I needed it I didn’t take it until I got used to the pain And agony And now I could run longer faster with-out running out of breath that fast and I could hold my breath longer too so I felt as if I was ready.

 My 8^th grade year came around, and on basketball tryouts day I was sweating because I didn’t want to get cut. When tryouts came through I worked my hardest ran the fastest, and was always in front of the line. I made 50% of my shots and just was focused and didn’t breathe hard at all. I wanted the coach to see just because I’m small does not mean I can’t take the same or give out more effort then these bigger guys! Next day the coach made final cuts and put them on the wall in front of the whole school to see. I was scared for my life if I got cut again so I couldn’t look so I told my best friend Tevin to look for me. He went to look and said,” No.” I felt a whole bunch of emotions roaming through my body. (I worked so hard) I went to class and sat down in shame. I got really mad and put my head down then the coach came on the intercom and said, “Give a round of applause to your mens' Falcon basketball players Marco Thomas, Tevin Jones, G.K Wisely… I looked at my friend like,” really you gone play me like that? and the whole class laughed because they knew how bad I worked for it and how much I wanted it. So I made the team and I couldn’t wait to run home from how happy I was and tell my mom the news. Once I got home I ran to my mom and told her how I made the team and was one of the three top point guards She was proud of me and we went out and celebrated. 

I learned that practicing and working hard giving 100% effort gets you to where you want to go. My mother she was a tough woman. She believed in love because after all. Our fathers left out her life  or tried to do my mother wrong, she became a new a different person. She became a black African American Queen she worked 2 jobs graduated high school and college and became a nurse and has been doing all types of jobs she has been the most successful women I know and has been a positive role model of mine. The way I feel about my mother is I love my mom she pushes me to my limits and even tries to push me past them so I can get better. She sees the good in me she knows I can be great I can achieve greatness I can complete my goals That’s why I love her because she loves me even though she doesn’t say it I know she doesn’t say it because  its just not something we do; we share a connection in different ways.

Marco D. Thomas