Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Michelle: If you take my heart out, it would definitely be a basketball. When I’m on
the court, I’m in paradise. I feel free. I’m in my own sanctuary.
Ned: Michelle was one of the best and most complete point guards ever to play here. She
had a real complete game to her. She could shoot the threes, she could drive to the basket,
she defended, she ran the team. She was as good a point guard as has ever played here
at Ventura College.
Renee: A lot of players practice hard the first hour. Santizo practices hard the first
hour, the second hour, and the third hour, and that’s what makes her special. She leads
by example. She works *** every drill, every possession, and its really hard to find
players like that.
Michelle: If it wasn’t for my father I wouldn’t be the basketball player I am today. He taught
me how to work hard. I used to get up at five, six in the morning with him to shoot and run.
My neighbors used to get mad because I would always be dribbling so loud.
Renee: She lived next door to a family friend of ours. My sister was a good friend of theirs
and told me “Hey, there’s this kid, she’s probably 14 or 15 years old, and every morning
at 5 a.m. the neighbors can hear the basketball bouncing in the back yard.
Michelle: I was a fifth grader and my dad was screaming at my coach “Take her our,
take her out. If she wants to be turning over the ball, take her out, teach her a lesson.”
I’m so *** myself now, because I know that if my dad were here watching me, and
I make a mistake, he would be yelling at me to get out.
Renee: Her will to win is almost unparalleled to anyone else’s. I tell her it’s a good
thing and a bad thing about her. She gets so caught up in the moment sometimes, she
forgets to enjoy basketball.
Michelle: When my father passed away, it was the hardest thing I have ever faced. It was
just so sudden, I didn’t know how to feel. I never got the chance to tell him goodbye,
or even I love you, or thank him for helping me become the basketball player that I am
Ned: I thought Michelle handled it as well as anyone could. Some days she would come
in to practice and you could see the pain. She was always bottling it up. She didn’t
want anybody to see her suffer, and she certainly didn’t want to bring her suffering onto
other people.
Michelle: They could have been going through stuff at home, just like me. And if they’re
not gonna bring it onto the court, I’m not gonna bring it onto the court. I couldn’t
do that to them.
What motivates me now I knowing that my dad’s not here. I just want to prove to him that
I can make. There were a lot of people that doubted me my whole life, and he was the only
one who believed in me.
There could be hundreds of people at the game, but every time I look into the stands, it
feels empty because he’s not there.
I just miss the good times we had, and I miss the bad times we had.
Basketball is my escape. If I didn’t have basketball, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
I believe in myself now, and I just want to prove to myself that I can make it.
I give a hundred and ten percent when I’m on the court, because I never know. It could
be taken away at any time.