Monday, June 11, 2012

Diary Of A Baller: Tyus "Kid Mamba" Battle (Edison, NJ) Entry #41

Tyus And His Graduation Class  

What’s up basketball world it has been a very long and important week for me because it is my graduation week. 

Tuesday I had my graduation dinner. While at the dinner we finally got our yearbooks and we also took a bunch of fun pictures. We got our certificates if we were in a club, made honor roll, or made principals list. I didn’t get many certificates. I earned two, one for being on the basketball team and one for honor roll. I was extremely proud about the honor roll because it was very hard to make it this year. Each marking period I would finish with an 84 average which would bring me down to a B -, however this time I had to buckle down while playing and practicing a little less to make it happen. I finished with a 90 average and made honors! After we ate and got our awards we took pictures for the rest of the night and some of us laughed and even cried a little. 

Wednesday, the eighth graders had a dress down day and had our rematch against the teachers in volleyball, and this time we ended up winning 2 games to 1. After we played against the teachers we played a few games amongst each other. When it was time to go we were surprised to see every student, teacher, and staff member in the school applauding us as we went by to our classes. It felt really nice! When this happened a few people started tearing up because they have been going to school in this building for all their lives and now all of a sudden it’s time for them to move. I guess it is sort of bitter sweet. After dismissal from school my little brother and I walked to the barbershop to get our haircuts because I had a graduation mass the next day. 

Thursday most of the eighth graders stayed until 11 because we had a choice to stay or to leave after the mass. I chose to stay with my other classmates. While at the school we just talked about the things we were going to do over the summer and experiences we had while in the school. The day seemed to go by really fast. At 4PM I went to my friend Angela’s house with a few other people to hang out for an hour or two. I had to leave early because I had basketball practice with The Road Runners.. By the time I got to the practice we were all ready scrimmaging and going full court and I only got to get in a few games to 12 before practice was over. I did dominate the practice and I had a pretty hard dunk on the right base-line in traffic on a broken play. 

Friday we had a yearbook signing party and needed to leave at 11 again but this time everybody in the eighth grade had to go home. I rested at home for a few hours until I had to go and workout with Julian at 4PM. It's was a tough workout and my body was sore after. We focused on my upper body and getting off the floor faster. As soon as I was done with Julian I had to rush home to take a shower and get ready for my graduation at 7. When I got to the school we took a few pictures before the graduation. The boys wore blue gowns and the girls wore white. The ceremony went smoothly. This time a lot of people were crying and we stood outside of the church taking pictures for about 30 minutes. I really enjoyed the graduation and it still amazes me that we were the first class to graduate from the school. It makes proud. 

This is Tyus Battle signing off!