Wide reading log #1

Wide Reading Log

Steven Adams: My life My fight

Steven Adams

Non fiction story

Finished-8/5/20

The autobiography of Steven Adams’ life explains how he grew up with very little money and lost his dad at age 13. Steven’s uncle asked him if he wanted to move to Wellington to get his life back on track because he was struggling with the idea of his dad not being around anymore. In Wellington he found he loved basketball and was given lots of different opportunities including going to the private school Scotts College. This meant he could compete in higher level games. It explained how Steven was not motivated towards the grades of his school work and how he changed this. It then moved onto Steven getting scholarships to play in America where things were very different. He was achieving his goals and eventually got into the NBA. The book then explains some of his different rookie season games and the influences of different teammates on his individual growth. Over time he reflected on how he was now becoming a leader he once looked up to for the new rookie players.  

Steven Adams was very interesting to read about but the character I was most intrigued by was his coach Kenny. Kenny met Steven through his uncle who was a little bit involved with Basketball New Zealand. Kenny provided all team training and individual training with Steven for free. I found this interesting because individual training normally costs a lot but Kenny was still willing to do this. I think this was because Kenny could see the drive and motivation in Steven to make it to the next level. Another reason I found Kenny interesting was that he had an African American background, growing up with basketball in his blood. Kenny taught basketball at a high level in America bringing an extended range of knowledge to New Zealand basketball. Kenny seemed to be very caring and generous, always providing free things for steven. If I was Kenny I would want to do the same thing as what he is doing because Kenny gives up his time and money to do better for other people which you don’t find many people like that any more.I feel he would be a great person to meet and people should strive to be like him.

A major message I took from this book was that if you do keep on going you’ll be able to get where you want, you just have to be motivated. I found this message inspirational because I also play basketball so could relate to it easily. It showed becoming a professional basketballer was an achievable goal through hard work and dedication. Another important message I took from the book is that you will have to make many sacrifices to get to this level, like how Steven moved away from his family to pursue a future. I believe everyone needs to learn these messages. Because some people think it is going to be really easy and they are not going to be ready for what has to come, that’s why they should learn this message early so they don’t hit the wall and go down the wrong track.

Steven had many challenges as a kid, from his dad dying to having to get a custom school uniform because he was too big. After his dad died, he had lost his main life role model to look up to. Steven became unmotivated to go to school and started playing lots of video games because this distracted him from thinking about his Dad. “I loved playing video games because that kept my mind off my dad at the time”. Not having a Mother made the loss of his Dad even harder to cope with. Steven having to get a custom uniform wasn’t a problem when he was in Rotorua because it was a mufti school but when he moved to Scotts college he had to get one. The custom uniform was more expensive and made him stand out from the rest of the school kids. 

I think the title of the text “My life My fight” is very appropriate  because that is what the book explained. It explained about the different challenges that he had to face in becoming a professional sportsman. The title expresses that he had to fight through tough times to get to the highest level.

I would recommend this autobiography by Steven Adams to a young sportsman that lives in a small city or town. As this would let them know if you do keep on fighting you will get there, you just have to be motivated and driven.