AFG ATHLETICS:

As an adult, I remember hearing the sound of crumbled-up paper balls hitting the bottom of metal trash cans after a clean shot, whether at home, at school, or wherever I got the chance. Basketball has been ingrained in us even before we knew it. My homies and I used to play basketball every few weeks at the park. I remember being 12 years old and going to my cousin’s house just to shoot the basketball with my Uncle Gino. He knew I was a natural-born shooter. Funny enough, I don’t shoot basketballs anymore; instead, I picked up a camera, and I shoot the greatness of the homies who do.

AFG Athletics: Basketball is an ode to the sport that kept us off the streets and gave us hoop dreams to look forward to. Basketball showed us the discipline required to be great. Basketball showed us that greatness isn’t given, it’s practiced. It’s showing up every day, even when you aren’t in the mood. Even folks who don’t play ball still raise their lips to say they wanna be like Mike, be as disciplined as Kobe, and have the Mamba Mentality.

Basketball, for many of my brothers and sisters is the air in their lungs, the wind beneath their wings, the reason why the weekend has something to look forward to, and that’s why it was essential for me to pay homage to such a sport, highlighting the pastime and what it is for our people and the ones that came before us as well as the ones coming after us.