“And now, at starting point guard for your Atlanta Hawks, number 5. BRANDON WALKER!” I stand up from the bench, high five my teammates, and jog to center court. I bend my knees, crouching down and resting my hands on the court. Closing my eyes like I do before every game, I pray to God for protection and greatness. I stand up, open my eyes, and enter the huddle with my teammates.

 “Let’s be great today boys, you know what time it is,” Cam Reddish, my teammate, tells the team in the huddle. As I watch the ref throw the ball up for the centers to tip off the game, every game I have ever played flashes before my eyes.

 “This one is special,” I think to myself. It’s been a tough time coming, but today is my dad’s birthday, only this is the first birthday we will be celebrating without him. Last year on March 3rd, my father passed away after a 6 month battle with cancer. That was not just my father and the man that provided for my mother, brother, and me. He was my role model and the man who taught me everything I know today. 

I dedicated the rest of my basketball career to him to make sure that I can take care of my family the way he did. Written on the t-shirt that I wear under my jersey every game is “Michael Walker”, my father, so that if I am ever in a tough moment I can lift my jersey and remember why I do what I do. 

I look up to the stands and see my beautiful mother wearing my jersey and cheering me on just like she does for every game. Right beside her is my brother Kobe cheering me on with her. Soon I `will be at his football games cheering him on. 

Right now my brother is a Senior at Brooklyn High School. He’s the starting quarterback for the football team and just like I was, he is also the starting point guard for their basketball team. He is a highly recruited player in both sports and has a tough decision coming up this spring. He’ll have to decide which college he will be taking his talents to and which sport he will choose to play in college. We’ve had some family arguments about where we all want him to go and what to do with his life, but at the end of the day it’s his life and whatever he wants to do with his life is completely up to him. He has offers for both sports to some of the top programs in the nation like Duke University, which is where I went, Alabama, Oregon, Florida, Texas, and many other schools. 

If the choice was mine I would want him to go to Duke because I went there and had such an amazing experience at that school, but my mom wants him to be different and go to Texas or Oregon. My brother never really talks about the offers he has to schools for colleges because he is such a humble athlete. I think he wants to go to Texas because he likes their football facilities a lot, but that’s really all he has told me about colleges. We all know what my dad wanted him to do. My dad always told us that he wants Kobe to follow me right into the NBA from Duke, but to be honest that’s not really his choice. I just feel bad for Kobe because of the amount of pressure he now has on his decision after our father passed. I remember my dad calling me before he died. 

He said to me “Make sure Kobe follows your path and become the man I taught you both to become.” It’s always difficult to make a decision for someone else, but now that my dad is gone that is going to be the role I have to fill for Kobe. 

“Great game out there today, way to play, love the wins” said Coach Pierce. 

“Thanks Coach,” I replied. I walked past all of the media and went straight to the locker room. I sat down in front of my locker and looked at the pictures I had posted on the inside. Our family never looked better than when it was whole. Everytime I look at the pictures I get a feeling of loss like there is a huge hole in my life now. I know that I have to be strong for the rest of my family, especially Kobe. I need to be the role model in his life that my father was.

 Kobe is never upset and always puts extra work in to become the best that he can be at his craft. He wants to be the next best two sport athlete since Deon Sanders, but today it is so much more difficult to play two sports. Now people put in 1000% effort and every is trying to accomplish similar goals, so there is so much competition that you have to beat out if you want to make it farther than them. Everyone wants to make it to the league, but it is not about who says they want to make it, it is about who shows and works like they want to make it. That is what my father always taught me when I was younger and that is why I am where I am right now. I hope I can do the same for Kobe, and I already know that Kobe has that extra motivation and drive since our father passed. 

We don’t have another game for a week because that was our last game before the all star weekend. I already told the commissioner and coaches that I won’t be participating in any of the all star events even though I was selected for the All Star game and three point contest.

 I want to go home and spend the week with Kobe instead. It has always been a dream of mine to play in an All Star game, but right now it is more important to me to spend as much time with my family as I can, especially after what happened. I decided that I am not going to tell Kobe that I am coming home and I am going to surprise him. I know he has a lot going on between school, home, and sports. He is a hard worker so he is always going to be putting in extra work to be better than the person next to him. 

I can’t wait to see my mom also. I can’t even imagine how hard it is going to be for her every day going to work for so many hours and taking care of Kobe. I think she’ll appreciate the break also. This makes me want to work even harder so that I can make sure my mom is taken care of for the rest of her life. I plan on surprising her with a new house during the summer, but I am still deciding where the house will be. I don’t know if I want her to stay in Brooklyn anymore, but at the same time I don’t want to take her away from her home. It would be awesome if Kobe and my mom lived in Atlanta so that they could come to all of my games and I could see them any day that I want to. 

I think I will bring it up without telling her what I am thinking like maybe saying to her “ do you really want to stay in Brooklyn or do you want to move to Atlanta near me?” That might just work. I know she will appreciate anything I get her no matter where it is. I want to make things easier for Kobe also. I feel that if he was much closer to me I could become more of a father figure to him, but with him so far away it is hard to be that person for him. 

My father told me before he passed that he wanted Kobe to be like me and follow my footsteps and told me to make sure that Kobe does not play football over basketball because my dad was worried about long term injuries that football could have on Kobe with all of the concussions. I am stuck with the decision of following my dad’s wish or letting Kobe choose his own path.

As I was boarding my flight to get home from Atlanta I hear a faint yell, 

“Brandon Walker!” I was confused where the yelling came from and turned around to see if there was someone calling my name. A little boy ran up to me and said to me, “Brandon, you are such an inspiration to me, keep doing what you do,”

 I was so happy to hear a fan actually appreciate me as a role model and not just try to get an autograph for bragging rights. I then took off my hat and got a sharpie out of my backpack. I signed my hat for him and handed it to him. He was overwhelmed and all he said was, “Thank you so much.”

I won’t forget this moment. This shows that there really are people out there that care. I finally find my seat on the plane and sit down. This is going to be a long flight so I better get comfortable before everyone else takes their seats. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. 

Once I landed I went to my mom’s house to surprise everyone. When I arrived at the house, I noticed that my mom’s car was not in the driveway which is unusual for this time because she is usually making dinner for Kobe. I knocked on the door, and Kobe opened it. 

“ Oh my god, you are home,” he said with a smile on his face. I was so happy to see him. I asked him where our mom was and he said she got another job that has a late night shift and she is rarely home at night. This made me upset, that my mom was just finally getting comfortable and now she needs to pick up another shift. 

“No, she won’t anymore,” I told Kobe. 

“We are going to get her and she won’t be working this extra job,” I continued. We drove to my mom’s new job and she was so confused as to why I was home, but at the same time she was so excited to see me again. I told her she can quit this job and come home. I got a salary bonus from the Hawks for making the All Star Game and was paid my bonus by Nike after signing my sneaker deal with them for the next five seasons. I now have the money to make my mom’s life a whole lot easier for her. I went to her boss with her and told him that she won’t be coming back. My mom felt so relieved that she wouldn’t be working from 9 am to 9 pm anymore. I told her that soon enough I will get a new contract to be able to accomplish a dream of mine and buy her a brand new home. Then I asked her to talk to me separate from Kobe, so that I could discuss the week off that I wanted to spend with Kobe and make sure it would be okay with her. 

“Can I please take Kobe with me for the week so we can hang out and help him clear his mind? Also you will be getting the break you need from him and work.” I asked her. 

“I love that idea, but I need you to make sure he is safe at all times and that you are not leaving him by himself at any time,” She said.

“Great thanks mom!” I told Kobe, and he was so excited to get a break from school and away from home. Then I needed to get serious as my dad’s words flashed through my memory about Kobe’s future. “I need to tell you that before dad died, he told me that he wanted me to make sure you play basketball instead of football,” I told Kobe. 

“Really why does he not want me to play football?” Kobe questioned. 

“He told me that football is too dangerous and he wants you to think about your future,” I stated.

“I don’t think that the choice is his, if you think football is the right choice for you and you think about injuries and your future, then whatever decision you make is the right one,” I told Kobe.

“I appreciate that, I don’t know what I am going to choose, but I will definitely be keeping that in mind, thanks for telling me,” he responded.

***

Today is the big day for most high school senior athletes, but most importantly my brother, Kobe. Today is signing day and Kobe, one of the most highly recruited athletes for both football and basketball, will be making his decision of where he will attend college and what sport he will be playing there. It was finally his turn. He sat down at the table with four college hats on the table. They read from left to right, LSU, Clemson, Duke, and Texas. Most people expected him to go to Duke and play basketball there just like I did, but I wanted him to be different and make his own path so that he is known as his own person and not just my brother. Next to the hats on the table there was a football and a basketball laying down next to each other. He grabbed the microphone and began his speech. 

“ I would like to thank God, my mom, my brother Brandon, all of my coaches, teammates, teachers, and everyone who has helped me get to where I am now and become the man I am today. With that being said, this was not an easy decision, but I believe it is the right decision. I will be taking my talents to the University of Texas to play football.” Everyone was cheering as he put on the orange hat for Texas and grabbed the football off of the table. I was so proud of him for being strong and making such a tough decision, but I knew it was the right decision for him.