Jaecee "Mayweather" Martin
Hello world , I'm Jaecee Martin, point guard for Connecticut Basketball Club's 2017 team and here is a little something about myself .
I'm a 5"8 guard from Hartford, Connecticut. Despite what you've heard, I'm 14 years old in the 8th grade. I get a kick out of hearing all the lies people say about me and my teammates. I used to get angry, but now it's funny. I hang out and have fun a lot, but basketball is my main job. Everyday I do something related to me getting better. Whether its shooting or working on ball handling, or just working out to get my body ready for the next level. I work out against my best competition. The hardest player for me to check (KeAndre Fair) and the best defender I've ever played against (my brother Chaylyn). We push each other to be great. Sometimes the competition gets crazy, but we know we're just making each other better.
Where I'm from there are a lot of kids from my hood who believe they can make it to the NBA, but they don't have the right people in their corner to guide them. I know a lot of guys who were good 2 or 3 years ago, but they never advanced. My coach always says not all basketball is good for you, so I'm very cautious about where I play and who I play for. Not having my father in my life makes living in Hartford kinda hard for me. There are lots of pressures around and young men need men to tell them right from wrong and to teach us how to be men. My coach/big brother, Reggie Hatchett came into my life when I was 4 years old and saw something no one else saw. To him I was special and he kept telling me and my mom and step dad until we started believing it too. So we kept working together and he got me where I am right now. If it wasn't for him I would probably be a regular kid. My life changed just from playing with him. He introduced me to Mike Melton and the whole Basketball Spotlight Experience. Once Mike Melton and the other staff started liking my game...I became like a celebrity in my area! Everyone saw my videos, everyone started calling me "Mayweather" (nickname given to me by Mr Melton) and every time I go to a Spotlight tournament I get players and parents who come up to me and say they like my game. I'm a naturally shy person, so that was kinda hard dealing with in the beginning, but Coach Reg told me how to deal with it and he said to get used to it because I will probably have to deal with that for the rest of my basketball career.
The craziest thing that happened to me is, one time we were coming him from a tournament and we stopped to eat in the New Jersey Turnpike. An older man came up to me and said, "Hey Mayweather, my sons love you, do you mind taking a picture with them?" I looked around to make sure he was talking to me! They asked for my autograph but I didn't have a pen. Those are the kinds of things that happen to me because of my Basketball Spotlight career. I'm so happy to be a part of such a great thing. That's enough for right now thanks for reading this diary entry, stay tuned for more writings about what's going on with me!
