Dreaming of Geneva

By Joseph Grab

The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.

That is something I live my life by.

People often sell themselves short, and they limit their capabilities by not taking risks. If I never took risks, there is no way I would be where I am today with the experiences and memories I have made.

Before last year, I had everything in my life mapped out. 

I was going to keep playing basketball, continue to develop, and earn myself a scholarship to college before graduating from the school I had gone to my whole life. 

Just when I thought I had it all figured out, Covid hit. 

Covid took a lot of things away from a lot of people, especially athletes.

Seasons ended early, schools were shut down, and opportunities to get recruited were now little to none.

I had just come off the best basketball season of my career, averaging 24 points, 3 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game my junior year of high school. With my senior season coming up, I was ready for my recruitment to take off that summer while preparing to play for a circuit team before Covid hit. 

I ended up not having an AAU season and did not get recruited by any schools. So, with my senior year of high school ball coming up, and rumors of our league not having a season, my family and I had to make a decision.

My trainer had just gotten the assistant coaching job at Spire Institute, a prep school in Geneva, Ohio. This school was widely known as Lamelo Ball’s old school. 

My coach reached out to me, asking if I would come to play for them, knowing the gravity of my situation. After visiting the campus and meeting the guys on the team, my family and I decided that this was the best situation for me to ensure that I would not only have a senior season but one where I would be playing against the best competition in the country, while simultaneously getting myself ready for college. 

When making this decision, I did not really understand what it entailed. 

Transferring schools was hard for me. I was leaving the place I had been going my whole life. I had to adapt from a chill, relaxed environment to a much more professional environment, rapidly. 

My schedule consisted of a 6 a.m workout, seven hours of school, and strength and conditioning training, all followed by a two-hour practice.

The regimen was not the only hard part of the new school. The thing that struck me the most was homesickness. I knew what I was doing this for though. I was not here for fun; I was here for business.

I knew that I needed this environment to push myself to the next level. After a while of just focusing, keeping my head down, and putting in the work, I got used to it. 

I started to do things and see results that fueled my fire to keep pushing forward. 

It was a great year! I traveled across the country with my team, playing in some of the biggest tournaments with the top players in the country, including Mikey Williams, Keynote George, and Robert Dillingham. As a 5’10” kid from a town in Pennsylvania that no one has heard of, this is something I never could have dreamed about. I never would have made it here had I not taken the risk to transfer. 

I am here to say take a chance on yourself! 

You are capable of so much more than you know, and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone will only make you stronger. 

It will take you places and do things that you never imagined yourself doing before. I know this firsthand. There is no way I would be where I am today had I played everything safe.

Taking a chance on myself put me in the best position to succeed, and I am so grateful for every step of my past journey and the unknown one to come.