I was walking back to our rental car, a white Acura, in the parking lot of a high school in Las Vegas. My black, sweat-soaked West Michigan Lakers’ jersey draped around my neck and shoulders for the final time. I was about to open the passenger door when I heard Tringali –the founder of the AAU team — call my name. He came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder, looking me straight in the eyes. He told me how far I had come since my freshman year; how sorry he was about the passing of Coach Hewitt; and how I needed to be the leader in the upcoming season for my team. While all of these things meant a lot to me, I couldn’t help but get hung up on one thing he told me: “You’re really not afraid of anything anymore are you?”

It took me a while to figure out what he meant by that. At first I assumed he was specifically referring to basketball; my playstyle had become more physical and less standoffish as the season had progressed. But no, that wasn’t what he meant.

So I thought about it. The words resonated in my head. Not afraid of anything anymore. There was more than one meaning to this.

I had endured the pain of the first true tragedy in my life in the death of my head coach; my great grandmother had passed away; I had tendinitis in both of my knees; we had to foster my cousin who’s parents were mentally incapable to care for her; and I was finally starting to become comfortable with myself after two years of dealing with various insecurities.

I had been through enough in life so yeah, not afraid of anything anymore was an appropriate assessment of my current state of mind. What this newfound mentality did for me was unfathomable.

I went out of my way to make more friends. I became a vocal leader and spoke my mind. I lead the student section at football games. I embraced more positive attention in class. I was the captain of the basketball team. I confidently had conversations with girls and formed relationships. I surrounded myself with people who made me genuinely happy instead of people who would make me cool. I built up the courage to take risks because not taking chances is boring. Most importantly, I wasn’t afraid of what others thought of me.

To be completely honest, for the first time in my life, I was myself.
In the end, being told that you’re not afraid of anything helps you, even if you are afraid of lots of things. Whether it was false confidence or not, I took it to heart. A simple comment from one of my coaches turned out to be the concept that propelled me through what was the most successful year of my life so far. My senior year.