Jabari Parker: The First 18 Years

you cameron it's the biggest court in basketball it's a place where you feel like you're never alone when you walk in and hit it great show i've played on this court all the duke teams have won championships together like little i dreamed of To have a gem like this for me is a blessing and an honor to be here representing one of the best programs of all time. I want to help my team hang banners and be remembered on and off the field to understand how I got here. I have to understand why I'm from Chicago that's the bet that's the reason I'm the person I am now the people here are real, you know, no one here, the community complains and they just look out for each other, everyone cares.

They get along well, although there is a lot of adversity there is a lot of violence in my community everyone stays together it is positive I think that is for the news you do not have the opportunity to see that people thrive in an environment of adversity there is gang violence there although there are shootings and others , you know all kinds of things that happen, but you know what makes it a little bit harder, but also makes you feel grateful at the same time. I feel like I'm safe everywhere and that's how I always feel like my families are. one of the most important parts of my life they know how to see me because I receive that support that I always needed, my children grew up and I am theirs, they tried the harsh words when I want, you know, it's literally like being Michael Jordan. son in a local area, you know he's like your fellow students, so Jabari never became Jabari until you know he'd probably be in seventh grade, eighth grade like me and him, they always call us sunny little Chicago is one one of the best places I will visit.

I always have it in my heart to play outside with our parents, you know, they're really protective, like some of the places we go in the decisions we make. You know being outside at certain times of church was literally a place where, if they found out, We were there if we can't get in trouble. You know, we could be anywhere on a Friday or Saturday night in the middle of the night and then if they realize we're at church, there's no reason for them to be like this. It matters, you know, we have a key, no one will be there, you know, so, you know, and then the young people, the number of young people in our church, it was actually us, there weren't that many at that time, so you know , having the gym at the church, it was just like easy access all the time, so there's nowhere else we really wanted to be here.

He may just be a kid. He here he can be a normal person. We don't give much importance to basketball. He likes. You know other people and when you talk to him and ask him a couple of questions about his life, whether it's basketball or not, he comes up with something to ask you, he comes with us and visits closeted people who are often forgotten. in the community and he sees people who became affiliated with the church because they are older for health reasons. He likes to go visit them and lifts their spirits and is invested.

He can share positive messages that helped his spirituality. Having the church was a major. as a form of comfort because it is literally our church building in my eighth grade year. I want to go to the cities newspaper. I want to go away and see and do something really spectacular, but instead I choose the harder route because I come from a school known for basketball. When at NASA he felt committed to helping people in his neighborhood, we want to improve every day, he challenged us as coaches to make sure he improved. You know, he really wanted to win and we just built as a coach and player the end.

Until the summer everything was going very well, then I got injured and everything started to collapse, breaking one of the most important pieces of the foot, being out of the foot for six months, not crying, it's a little difficult to get back to running right away. I didn't take baby steps. I didn't crawl right away. I just started running. It was very difficult, very depressing for him. 6 months. You know, just going through that thing of not being able to play for the

first

time in his life was very difficult and I used it. Talking to him a lot is like riding a bicycle.

You know all the things that you have previously learned in the past. You'll be able to do those things once you're healthy. It was the saddest experience for our entire family as well. for Jabari because we, as his parents, went through depression and you know that you feel sorry for your son and what he is going through and you want to make things better for him. He will be out running from 11 to 12 at night. while we were sleeping and in the dark and the freezing cold just to come back, so he did a lot of this alone, but he had the will, you know, you want to give back, you want to participate in the place, I'm like, okay, party, do your thing .

Rehab condition and he did it and the player got the Most Valuable Player. They want to return to the tournament in Pontiac for the third year in a row. Coming back from the injury, he felt great, but there were a lot of people who doubted me and my team. I'm thinking that he couldn't do it anymore and what that told me is to keep striving for greatness even though I was poor, you know he wanted to just be a normal student. I mean, I tell him it was hard, he's 69

years

old, so I do know that you played basketball when we were walking. out for the last game in the state championship, you know, when he came in he said you want to win full state championships and we won the last one, it was just gratifying and you know it's like the coach we did after we won that piece, it was something that I knew that I've been trying to get it for a long time, sir.

Bonad on his

first

division 1 scholarship in sixth grade and then as time went on, in seventh and eighth grade, more coaches you know now is starting to get a little more intense and chaotic trying to figure out what would help him be. the best person you know. the court on the court I found him in his room and surfing the Internet reading the history about this culture talking about this program and I was just there to help him do his homework, but when I made the decision, you know he needed my place because you did all homework in the fall of 2013.

I will be attending Duke University. I had Sonny, where it was nice, you know, because as parents you want your kid to just go to these prestigious academic programs because you know you just realize it's bigger than basketball and there's life after that, which He just came back the other day we were talking, he said it seemed like he was still here, you know the family oriented team and how organized Coach K is, and you know the same thing, you say it was very similar. for him to make that transition from here until he's learned a lot on and off the court, you know the things that Duke does, their coaches are very professional, it's just that I'm starting to get a glimpse of how important the program really is and how they're spilling our ties between us and the boys' family now.

I just think he's showing a tree for everything here and for my learning and that something is very different from elite athletes. He has a chance to be one of the most versatile players. to play, it seems like for a kid his age he really understands the way of the game instead of me, and that's kind of hard. Accidental, how many points he scored, he ran, he said, there is anything, that's what it's about and, if you look. Because of his history, he has won and used to win after the one event. He has an attractive personality to people who have been around them.

They are a joy to be around and as a player, the more you watch and play, the more you are surprised by what you do. can do now, but you're absolutely excited about the possibilities that exist for him beyond what he's doing now and that's not true for a lot of players. I'm not saying you know that everything he's done is supposed to happen because I know he worked. But I definitely know that when it comes to Jabari doing great things, you know, I almost expect to see it and obviously I'll be ridiculously excited and everyone will be excited about what really comes through you.