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          Jake Russell, or JR as his friends called him, was a 

16 year old junior at Jefferson High School. From the time 

he could walk all he had ever dreamed of was playing 

basketball. His parents said that from the moment he could 

walk all he ever wanted to do was play with his Little Tikes 

basketball hoop and when he grew up he spent endless 

hours shooting hoops. This was all great, but there was one 

catch to this journey of this brilliant boy’s dream. His whole 

life he had been relatively short for his age. So short that 

he was teased by his peers, and the basketball coaches 

always overlooked him when selecting their team. So JR 

watched every game from the bench. Until THE big 

moment, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Let’s 

go back to where it all started…

         On the 31st of March 1992 JR was born in Jefferson 

City, Missouri. He was born ten days earlier than expected 

and he always wondered if this caused him to be somewhat 

smaller than other boys of his age. As a young boy being 

small did not affect him in the slightest of ways. He played 

chasey, he ate ice cream and did lots of other things his 

friends did. There was just one thing he did that was 

different to his friends. His passion for the game of 

basketball meant that while most kids were riding their 

bikes and playing in the street, he would be practicing and 

shooting shots. Everyday, even as a young boy, after 

school he would devote at least one hour to shooting hoops 

over and over again. Collecting his rebound each time, 

trying to become the best basketball player he could be. He 

worked extremely hard and loved every second of it.

          As he got older his height started to bother him a bit 

more. People at his school noticed that he was somewhat 

shorter than them. This meant that he was teased by some 

of the mean kids and was always picked last for the team 

in P.E. This made him feel bad about himself. So bad that 

sometimes he seriously considered giving up on his big 

basketball dream, but Jake knew that if he patiently 

persisted and became the best he could that his height 

wouldn't stop him. Week after week JR still wasn't getting 

selected by the cruel coldblooded coach. This still didn't 

stop JR. He never gave up.

          Day after day JR trained terribly hard, but one day 

when JR was training he wasn't missing his shot. He hit 

hundreds of shots, only missing one here and there. So the 

next day JR went to the coach. He walked up to him and 

said, “I’ve drastically improved, watch me play”.   The 

coach watched him to play and was impressed. JR knew he 

was impressed and so he rushed to school the next day to 

look at the weekly team list. He was crushed when he saw 

his name wasn't on there. He cried all day and he was so 

angry with the cruel coldblooded coach.

JR went home that night and told his dad the bad news and 

that he was quitting basketball forever. His dad replied with 

“that’s fine, but are you really okay not playing again?” JR 

smiled and said “you know what, I don't care what that 

cruel coldblooded coach says! I’m a good player and no 

one can tell me otherwise.” He persistently practiced for 

even longer lengths of time, just hoping he would make the 

team. Unfortunately, week after week he was not selected 

and the bullying just kept getting worse.

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