Joel,a senior in high school, sat on his bed, in an inner city los angeles one bedroom house , he awoke this morning nervous, this was the day he got his final GPA which determined if he could participate in varsity boys basketball. Joel was an extravagant basketball player and had D-1 college teams looking at him, this was his last year in high school he had to be able to show colleges what he’s got! But his grades determined if he could play this year, and Joel struggled with grades, but he felt he achieved a 2.5 GPA. Joel tapping his foot and his pencil as the last minute of school came, the bell rang. Joel’s friends all asked if he could hang out, he replied no to all. As he sprinted home he prayed to god that report card read 2.5 GPA or higher. Joel's mom worked 6am to 6pm every weekday so he checked the mail every day. As he rounded hornet street he stared down at that that raggedy barely standing mailbox that read “3245” on the side, he slowly approached the mailbox he began to get more nervous than this morning and his palms began to sweat, he opened that mailbox and looked for that yellow colored envelope that read,” Los angeles union high school” and had his name on it, he stopped dead in the front of his house and slowly opened the envelope, he glanced over his trimester one report card, he had barely passing grades and at the bottom teh GPA part of the report card  it read 2.50. Joel screamed a yell of excitement and ran inside to call his mom. He called his mom and she was extremely happy for him and they were both very happy for the first time in a while. Joel asked his mom if he should call his dad but she said that wouldn't be a great idea. Joel’s dad left him and his mom when Joel was only four and ever since Joel was not really given time with his dad and his mom didn't like when Joel spent any time with him because Joel’s dad was a known drug dealer and in and out of rehab. This had a major impact on Joel’s life, not having a father figure, but this did not stop Joel from succeeding. This pre-season for basketball seemed like an eternity for Joel, all he could think about was showing all the college draft officials he has what it takes to play in front of thousands of basketball fans in a major arena. As the first game approached Joel circled this date on his calendar two months in advance and this day had finally come. Coach K sat the boys down in the locker five minutes until game time,” boys this is what you worked all year for, this moment today! Let’s go out and kick some butt! Joel stated the game of course and draft officials from all over the country were there including Duke, Kentucky, villanova, and even the university of wisconsin! This put a lot of pressure on Joel to exceed and he had no problem in doing so. After the fourth quarter horn sounded the game ended. Joel finished with forty points, eleven rebounds, and ten assists! That night he went home happy as ever and the next three games he played as good. The fifth season of the game the basketball team played a very hard team and Joel knew he had to try a lot harder than ever in this game. Midway through the game Joel's team was down by ten, coach K called timeout, the coach began speaking to the five player that were in,” Boys your not playing like you know, you need to try harder on defense and contest the open threes!, now get in there and play some ball!” Joel knew he had to block some shot and play better defense, two minutes into the second quarter one of the player on the opposing team went up for a shot and Joel jumped as high as he ever has and blocked the ball, the next thing Joel saw was medical staff on the court and someone calling an ambulance. Joel had so much adrenaline he didn't feel a lot of pain but he had dislocated his knee and was on his way to downtown Los angeles to the hospital. The doctor comes in to the room and began speaking, “ Your a healthy boy Joel, and your alsom lucky.” Joel said,” Yea real healthy huh doc?” sarcastically. Doctor,” Joel it's a small dislocation but you can't play basketball for three months.” That night when Joel got home hi mom said,”Joel, you'll get through this, I know you will,” Joel replied “thanks ma goodnight.” That night Joel cried himself to sleep thinking his career was over. Joel woke up that saturday and thought to himself, maybe basketball isn't for me. Joel was very close to his grandpa, his mom’s dad, and grandpa Joe called Joel and Joel answered “Hey boy I heard you banged up your knee!,” Joel replied,” yeah it’s pretty bad grandpa, I might quit, Grandpa replied,” Boy your not done, this is only going to make you better,” Joel replied,” what do you mean grandpa?” grandpa began to say,” you are not good on you left hand layups right?, so work on you left hand drills.” Joel said,” ok grandpa, I will.” The next two months Joel worked on left hand dribbling and left hand layups and was almost better on the left hand then the right now. Joel knew he would be able to play in the playoffs, if his team made it. The team made the playoffs and Joel came back to play, the playoffs were hard for Joel, he scored just ten points per game and his team barley won there games to get to the championship the reigning D-1 champions who were the best team in Los angeles and Joel knew he had to kick it into full gear. The day was the most nerve wracking of all. Coach K sat the boys down,’’ Boys you work hard all season for this moment, I believe in you guys.” Joel's team was down by halftime by twenty points, after the halftime which the coach yelled them out the whole time, Joel knew he had to go hard! Joel’s team came back and Joel hit the game winning three pointer, Joel finished the game with forty-four points, ten rebounds, and thirteen assists. The Villanova wildcats were very interested in Joel and wanted him to play basketball there, even though Joel would be across the country from his mom he chose to go to the university. Joel averaged over thirty points per game in college and his team won the championship back to back when he played there in his two years. All the NBA team wanted him to play for their teams but in the end he chose to play for the Los angeles Lakers, and he exceeded his rookie year scoring over thirty-five points per game. Joel was rookie of the year and his rookie contract was up which means the Lakers had to pay big money for Joel to stay on the team, especially because he did so well his first NBA year, he was offered a max contract of 135.8 million dollars for five years. This made him the highest paid second year NBA player of all time. Joel kept his promise and moved his mom out of their old one bedroom house, and moved her to beverly hills next to his house. Joel turned out to be one of the top ten all time NBA players and was a true NBA superstar. Joel never let the small roadblocks stop him but instead he moved past them and kept on moving on.