My Farewell Letter to Shibuya

Dear Shibuya, 

Where do I even begin. It feels like just yesterday when I woke up and realized it was my first day in Japan. Since the moment I arrived, I've been welcomed with sincerity, hospitality, love, and respect. This letter goes out to all of my supporters wherever you may be… Thank you for the encouragement, for the gifts, for the loyalty, and most of all for the genuine love. This chapter may be closing but this is only the beginning of my story.

Coming from a Division III college, my dream to play professional basketball was constantly tested by others disbelief. The fact of the matter is 0.003% of Division III athletes make it pro and for me that was all the motivation I needed to make my dream a reality.

From an early age, I watched my mother raise my sister and me through turmoil, divorce, deaths, bankruptcy, and troubles I can't even describe. Her resilience and unrelenting hard work allowed me to attend private school and college. Not only did it do that, it also instilled in me unbreakable confidence through hard work and never giving up. My mom told me that my success is her reward for all the hard work and sacrifice she has put in. This is one of the main reasons I am so inspired to succeed in my life. 

When I arrived in Tokyo on August 15, 2021 I was in disbelief that I actually made it. I gained hundreds of followers on social media in hours and I could feel the buzz of the city. I was imagining all of my dreams unfolding before they happened and it made me so excited to picture all of these amazing accomplishments happening long before they were real.

When I got to the Shibuya Sunrockers facility I was greeted with professionalism, respect, and pride. I could feel the culture was about doing things with honor and dignity and I liked that specifically because that's how my mom raised me to do things. "Do it once and do it right. Never do things halfway” she always used to preach. I began my career as a practice player as most of you know and during the 2nd weekend of season I was promoted to a import player after Ryan Kellys injury. I felt. terrible that Ryan got injured but at the same time I was so grateful that I was getting an opportunity to help our team win and also display all of my hard work on the big stage in Japan. I soaked up everything I could from Coach Mu, Coach Kenny, Coach Kino, and Coach KB, while asking TONS of questions to Mac &Josh since they had so much professional basketball experience in the Bleague and in the NBA. In addition to that, I did my best to learn about the Japanese culture and language by developing friendships with my teammates Leo, Nishino, Kaito, Kohei, Kenta, Koyo, Kosuke, Ryu, Shuto, Souichi, Asato, and many more amazing members of the Sunrockers organization.

From that day on I told myself there's no looking back. You've been working so hard your whole life for this moment and you have an incredible opportunity to showcase all of your gifts right now. And so I kept working harder. I started lifting. . on my off days, I got 500 shots in minimum everyday, I did extra conditioning 3 times a week, I started working with a mental coach to improve my free-throws and my mental approach to the game all with the intention to improve my performance.

And so as I look back now on those beginning days and realize how far I've come, I am purely grateful for the work that was put in to be able to fully prepare to play 30+ BLeague games, 8 starts, and over 250 minutes. I can honestly look back and say that all of the sacrifice, extra hours in the gym, and continuous effort to evolve into a better player was all worth it. My mom taught me the importance of doing not only a good job but a great job and I was not going to let her down nor let the Sunrockers organization down. I am nowhere near where God plans for me to be but I know that I have grown and evolved into a better man, player, and teammate in these 8 I am purely grateful for this opportunity because of the experiences and lessons it's offered me.It's the experiences in our life that hold the greatest value.And in these experiences, being present in every moment because it can never be replicated. Each new moment is unique to itself and that's where the wonderful beauty lies, in the irreplaceable uniqueness.

If there's one thing I've learned in my time here it's that Success takes time. Anyone who experiences success overnight will not possess the perseverance and maturity to maintain their success. It's only through these failures that your spirit toughens and you develop into a stronger I feel it's the challenges that mold us into the leaders we were born to become because it teaches us patience, perseverance, and the skillset to overcome negativity and hatred while still holding our dreams and love close to our heart.

Although this chapter is closing, another beautiful one awaits to be written. The contents of the chapter may be unknown now but the lessons will soon be discovered. And that's what life is about. Life is an adventure. A journey that is designed to be And as you walk through life you discover all of these beautiful gems known as wisdom and virtue. And so not only am I excited to write this next chapter, I am prepared. I am prepared for whatever waits We are the creators and we must tap into that creative power every single day to make our dreams a reality.

I am forever grateful for all of my fans and supporters that have chosen to join me on my journey. I hope that all my fans and supporters continue to follow me along my journey as I grow as a new member of Japan, as a player, and as a man of God. I will continue to share love, encouragement, and honesty to everyone that I blessed to cross paths with.

And so as I close out this letter my feelings stand that the moral of this story is to take full advantage of every opportunity by being fully prepared because you never know when your name will be called. Better to BE ready than to get ready. My mentor always told me you are going to pay a price, the price of doing your work early, or the price of the pain in not seizing your opportunity.

And as always be a giver that loves everyone with their whole heart. The people who are trying to make this world worse are not taking a day off, how can the ones trying to light it up take days off? Light up the darkness or in other words show love even when you feel hate --Bob Marley

I want to give a huge thank you and sincere appreciation to everyone that has helped my team and I throughout this season. Thank you Mr. Uranagase-san, Mr. Oeda-san, Mr. Matsuoka-san, Coach Mu, Coach Kenny, Coach Kino, and Coach KB, Mac, Josh, Ryan, Leo, Nishino, Kaito, Kohei, Kenta, Koyo, Kosuke, Ryu, Shuto, Souichi, Asato, Shin, D, Nobu, Noji, Drew, Kentaro, Taiga, Kento , Ami, Yumiko, Yuko, Kenny, Kenneth, Patrick, Lorisa, the janitors and Security at Kashiwa Reysol gymnasium, the bus drivers that help us get to our games, the entire gym assembly staff at Aoyama Gaukin & Sumida, the Sunrockers Cheerleaders, All of the volunteers, and everyone in the offices that help make our job as basketball players so much easier. Without each and every one of my none of this would be possible and for that I am immensely grateful.

My life is not about my life, rather everyone else's around me. This is about the city. This is about my teammates. This is about my family. I'm working hard to bring success to everything and everyone around me. Being in service to my peers is the most important purpose I have. Thank you 1 million times Shibuya Sunrockers organization for all of the opportunities, lessons, and stories offered to me. I have been listening the whole time and I receive the wisdom.