Talent Is Over Rated. This Is Why.

In primary school, I always thought of myself as untalented. I never used to do anything at all. I did not have any ambitions apart from eating too much food and having to get just enough marks on my exams to pass.

The fact that I was not only among the tallest people in my class but actually the tallest person in my class did much to cause me discomfort. I greatly admired shorter kids. Kids who were way shorter than me were always the talented ones and also had perfect grades.

I was in-fact the tallest kid in the whole school of 1000+ students for the final two consecutive classes of primary. In my second to last year in primary, this realization that I was the tallest person in class made me think to myself and ask questions that I had never asked.

Some kids used to make fun of me calling me “class grandfather” but I always preferred the other nickname “ American Height” that they called me. During this time, I was ashamed of my height and struggled to get it in control.

But as the name American Height took hold of me, I found out that there were people older than me who were so proud of their height. They were American NBA players. This is how I got introduced to the game of basketball.

I was about 10 or 11 at the time and my mother had just died. I decided that I was going to put this height to good use. Since my mother was tall, I figured that this was a part of me that I was going to use to my advantage and as a way to stay close to mom.