Hello Basketball Spotlight World,
Before I dive into my first entry of My Diary of A Baller, I would like to take a second and thank God, Mr. Mike Melton, and the "Basketball Spotlight Community" for this amazing opportunity to share my day-to-day journey with this community! Since this is my 1st entry, I want to introduce myself and give you a glimpse of who I am. If you do not know me, my name is Dwayne “DJay” Snead Jr., also known as djay_ball_or_nothin on Instagram, and djballornothin on Twitter. I am a 14-year-old student-athlete from Bensalem, Pennsylvania. I am a 5’11” Combo-Guard currently playing for the New York Renaissance EYBL “NY Rens'' Class of 2025 Team. I fell in love with the game of basketball in 2009 at the age of 3 when I got my first Huffy Sports basketball for Christmas. It all started from playing with a Little Tikes Basketball Hoop in my house to playing for the Levittown Salvation Army and then always playing basketball at my school during recess and at after-school care. It's crazy because at the age of 6 I was part of a team at my after-school care playing against other kids from our other after-school care locations, just having fun. Presently, I still have that same predilection for the game, but definitely on another level. When I’m not interacting with basketball and training, I love working out, playing video games, playing and working on Remote Control (RC) Cars, and of course, Djing. I’m a student at The Pennington School in Pennington, NJ. This is my first year as a Red Raider at Pennington and I am already part of the Black Student Union “BSU”, The United People of Many Colors “UPMC”, Admissions Ambassador/Spend-A-Day Host, and Middle School “MS” Yearbook group. I am currently doing a hybrid schedule, so this week I am off-campus remote learning. Next week, I will be learning on-campus all week with a half-day on Wednesday. Since the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions this winter, I didn't have a winter AAU season and no normal school basketball season at Pennington. Unfortunately, my school team did not compete, we only had practice/workouts for the entire season. We played against each other which allowed me to focus on what I work on daily with training and apply it to the game. Well, that’s a brief glimpse of who I am. Please stay tuned for eight 8 weeks of my day-to-day journey to learn a little more about me. Every week I’m going to share all my activities and a portion of my life dealing with school, basketball, lacrosse, and spending time with my family.
Easter Sunday ~ Happy Easter Blessings! I woke up today at 10:30 a.m., then thanked the Lord for blessing me. I proceeded to brush my teeth, shower, and get myself ready for the day. I took my dog Apollo out for a walk this morning. I finished 100 pushups before I started to clean my room. I finished my chores then helped cook with my mom for Easter dinner. I had training at @3:00 p.m. with Jared Armstrong of Who Would of Thought. I left early because I needed to get a good stretch before my session. Today we worked on a lot of shooting. I have goals of making 7/7 from each 5 spots on the floor. Working with Jared, I have been able to shoot more consistently and get more reps. We did game situations, and I played against my trainer live while he was guarding me. It was a quick session if you ask me... It went very quickly, and that was because I was shooting great, speeding through all of the drills. I got home around 5:00 p.m. because we stayed after and talked about plans down the road for me. When I got home, I finished helping my mom cook for dinner. We ate dinner as a family and watched some good movies. We watched King Kong versus Godzilla and Concrete Cowboy. Once we finished those movies, it was time for bed because I had school the next day.
Monday ~ I woke up at 6:00 a.m. today. After I woke up, I prayed and thanked God for blessing me with another day and got ready for the day. I did 100 pushups this morning, doing two sets of 50 pushups in a row. I completed 500 taps of jumping rope. Then, I got on the elliptical and ran for 30 minutes. I ran 5.91 miles in 30 minutes. I have an Old English Bulldog named Apollo, so I took him out for his morning walk, which is one of my responsibilities. Online School starts at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 11:50 a.m. That is the daily routine that I do every week!! This year I decided to start and learn how to play lacrosse, and I had lacrosse practice today from 3:15-4:15 p.m. After I left practice, my pops picked me up, and we started to head home. Once I got home, I showered again, then took my multivitamins and my sea moss/elderberry syrup together. While making myself a smoothie, I talked to my mom about how my day went, then proceeded to start my homework. Once I finished my English, Science, Global Perspectives, and Spanish homework, I was chilling on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok until about 7:00 p.m. At that time, I started to stretch and warm-up for my at-home workout. My training consists of working on my handles and strength. First, I did three sets of work from Coach Dana Ross of Philly Vertimax. Coach Ross is my strength and speed coach. I have been going to her for some time now, and all of the hard work is paying off. I am now grabbing the rim, and trying to dunk a tennis ball. Coach Ross was going to the Olympics for track and field, but she hurt her knee and had to get surgery. I was working on my balance and my explosion. I finished my workout for Coach Dana, then I worked on my combos. Since it’s been nice outside, I was working in my parking lot. When I finished, I had steak with green beans and potatoes. I did 100 more pushups, and I finished the day off with 400 pushups. I do 100 every night before I go to sleep. I finished another set of 250 taps for jump rope, then I read 30 pages of Stargirl after that, and I went to bed!
Tuesday ~ I did my daily routine once again, and I dribbled in the morning instead of getting on the elliptical. Instead of working on my combos, I worked on 2 ball drills. For the first set, I used my PowerHandz Gloves so I can strengthen my hands. I did this twice, and I worked on many 2 ball drills. I took off my gloves then did the same workout I had just done, without the gloves. Once I did that, I was able to tell the difference in my dribbling this morning. I worked on my combos and hand-eye coordination. I made myself a smoothie then I was ready for school. I had lacrosse practice again, and we worked on passing and shooting. My coach said that I have to get better at passing and shooting. When I got home, I got in the shower and I took my dog out and fed him. I worked on some of my cradling skills for lacrosse so I can get better and play midfielder or attacker. I was working with my lacrosse stick for an hour and studying some zones for our team. I was on zoom from 6:45-7:30 for my school. I was picked to do our Student Panel for Pennington. The student panel was for parents/children who got accepted or are trying to decide which school to pick. There is a series of questions other students and myself answered for parents. This was to prove that Pennington is the best school for them to attend. I hopped on the game with my brother for an hour after the panel. I got off around 10:00, did my daily chores, and then rested in my room while on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok.
Wednesday ~ This morning I woke up at 6:00 a.m. once again. I did 100 pushups. Since it was a half-day for school, we ended at 1:30 p.m. I started my day with Spanish, and my classes are 55 minutes long. After school, my mom and I went to the store to get everything we needed for dinner. I got home and started my homework. We barely had any homework this week, and this was a great relief. I took time to make sure I stretched myself, so I’ll be ready for workouts later. I stretched myself for an hour while doing some yoga poses as well, and it was very soothing. I left early so I can get to my 3:00 p.m. training session on time. I worked on NBA and College shooting drills for my training session. I felt I could have done a better job of shooting, but I still shot over 84% for the workout. I worked on my footwork for lacrosse outside before coming into the house to eat. I used my ladder to get my speed up and be able to cut faster in lacrosse and basketball. I had pasta for dinner, and it was delicious! I didn’t hop on the game tonight because I was studying for a Spanish quiz.
Thursday ~ I had 6:00 a.m. workouts with Coach Dana this morning. Therefore I woke up earlier today to get out the door and train. It was a good workout. I worked on my hips, and I was able to explode faster on the Vertimax. My session ended early, so I can get home, get in the shower and be ready for online school. I had a good day at school because I got an A on my Spanish quiz. I had lacrosse practice today as well. We worked on our passing skills and tracking the ball. I am learning a lot about lacrosse, and I love it! It is fun playing with my friends. After I practiced, I got home and did my daily chores. Once I finished my chores I went outside to go work on my handles and conditioning. I was working on my footwork while using my PowerHandz. Since I had my PowerHandz on, I did every drill twice. Once I finished my workout, I went inside and made myself a great peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was strawberry jelly, and of course, strawberry jelly is better than grape jelly! Also, I had a protein shake that I made myself. Around 8:30 p.m. I started playing Call Of Duty. I got tired of Call of Duty, so I hopped on Madden. I was cooking with the Seahawks. I stayed on Madden until 10:00 p.m., and then I watched some college basketball games and did film studying on those games until around 11:45 p.m.
Friday ~ This morning I did my usual. I finished my 100 pushups, then took out my dog, and signed onto Zoom for school. I have an essay due next week, and the entire period I worked on my English essay. The essay is about how any character from Stargirl relates to another novel we read throughout the year. I had my Geometry class next, and we worked on polygons and identifying the different angles. In science, we didn't do much, and we worked on a simple lab that I got a 100% on. Doing homework took me 2 hours after school because I had to make a presentation for my Global Perspectives class. I was researching Human Rights in Qatar and how bad Qatar is as a country. The research was about how Qatar should not host the 2022 World Cup. Once I finished my homework, I started doing my strength training at @1:00 pm. I did my workouts from Coach Ross and some more drills from my old football coach, Coach Cordero. I worked on my balance for this workout and getting my calves stronger. I started to chill once I finished my workout. I hopped on the game for about an hour playing 2k My Team. At 3:00, I started my stretching for my handles and conditioning workout at home. It was nice out, so after I did my routine, I went outside to work on my handles. I started my workout at @3:30, and I worked on combos, simulating myself going through a PNR series, and freestyling. I pulled out my ladder and did some footwork after working on my ball handling. I ended off my workout with suicides and sprints. I came inside and I got in the shower and helped my mom start cooking dinner. I took my dog out around 7:00 pm, and we went on a peaceful walk before it got dark outside. I got on the game for the rest of the night and went to bed at 11:30.
Saturday ~ I woke up at 10:45 a.m. to start my day. I thanked the Lord for waking me and did 100 pushups once I got out the bed. I decided to get on the elliptical instead of doing my conditioning outside. I got on the elliptical for 30 minutes, and I beat my time from Monday. I ran 5.95 miles on the elliptical. I was feeling sore/tight after running, so I went to take care of my body. I take 3 hours to let my body recover by relaxing in the tub with warm water and Epsom salt while listening to music. I sat in the tub for 15 minutes, then sat out for 15 minutes, and one more set of 15 minutes. I did this process twice, and before the last three sets, I sat out for an hour. During that hour I watched the first game at noon between the 15U teams; PSA Cardinals vs NY Jayhawks for the NYC Invitational. The NYC Invitational is based on 5 NYC Club Teams: NY Rens, NY Gauchos, Riverside, PSA Cardinals, and the NY Jayhawks to honor Mr. Tom Konchalski. By the time the 1st game finished, it was time for my last four sets of 15 minutes to recover. At 1:30 p.m. I watched the 15U teams PSA Cardinals vs NY Rens play. At 3:45 p.m I had a training session with Jared, we worked on working off of drag screens, transition shots/finishes, and different PNR series. Once we got home I chilled and watched the 17U game between the Rens and the Jayhawks. At 10:00 p.m., I stretched, and I started to work on my handles for about 30 minutes. I did drills from my other trainer Devon Still of Overly Dedicated to work on my hand-eye coordination and my speed with my combos. I have been training with Devon since I was in the 4th grade. From going to him, I was able to take various drills and implement them into my custom workouts. Once I finished dribbling I washed my hair, and then my mom twisted my hair. It took an hour to finish my hair. So, once my mom was done, I went to check myself out in the mirror of course. I thought it would be nice to play Call Of Duty with my friends from school, and we went on a 2 game win streak and ended off the night with a great win. I carried my team and had 13 kills while they all died multiple times! I got off the game around 12:00 a.m. and finally went to bed. Thanks for reading about my week, tune back in for next week.
See you guys later!
