Imagine waking up at 6 a.m. every day, sore and tired from practice the day before. After finally finishing the school day, you start your homework. Then, after completing your workload from school, you have to work for hours on end at basketball, which is your real passion. That is the perspective of sophomore junior varsity shooting guard, Rashad Mitchell.

Rashad is a sophomore who plays on the junior varsity boys’ basketball team. He can do a lot on the court. Shooting, passing, defending and communication are some of his strong suits. 

After watching basketball in third grade, his interest in the sport sparked. He fully committed to basketball in seventh grade, playing on the Milwood Middle School boys’ A team. Rashad was inspired by NBA players like Steph Curry and Lebron James.

“That’s my favorite sport ever,” said Rashad. “I love it and want to follow the footsteps of my dad. He’s the reason I started playing.”

Rashad’s dad, Duane Mitchell, played varsity basketball during high school in the 1990s. After watching his reels, Rashad wanted to be just like him.

“I started watching my dad’s old highlights in sixth grade,” Rashad said. “He had some really good highlights. He’s about 6’2”, too, but he was dunking on people. He was considered the best on his team.”

Duane played on the varsity team for three years, until he graduated. The inspiration has made Rashad work harder to improve in basketball.

“I was happy for Rashad when he first started playing basketball,” said Duane. “I felt like he could follow in the same footsteps I did. I am on Rashad with his grades, though, so I push him in grades and to be a better basketball player.”

Duane isn’t the only parent who pushes their children in sports about their grades. According to Kalamazoo Public Schools, students must keep a minimum 2.3 GPA to qualify to participate in sports, causing many to be unable to play during the season, and parents to feel the need to push their kids to do well. However, the GPA requirement doesn’t negatively affect Rashad. 

“It makes me keep up with my school work, but I don’t worry about having a low GPA because I usually do my work,” said Rashad.

With work not being a problem and his parents’ support, Rashad hopes to excel in basketball, with a plan to stay with it for the rest of high school and college.

“I want to play for the Los Angeles Lakers,” Rashad said. “I love it [basketball], and I want to be as good as my dad was.”