The Middle School Rules of Skylar Diggins E-Book

Sean Jensen

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 119

Beschreibung

Skylar Diggins is a basketball phenomenon, receiving her first letter of interest from a respected college coach when she was in fifth grade. She is an icon: signing as the first female client of Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports, serving as the face of Nike's Women's Basketball Collection, and establishing herself as a must-follow on social media platforms such as Instagram (931,000 followers) and Twitter (604,000 followers). The Middle School Rules of Skylar Diggins features Skylar's defining childhood stories and lessons about growing up in a diverse middle-class family. Young readers will learn how Skylar dealt with bullying, struggled to fit in at school, and figured out how to excel in basketball despite never being the tallest, strongest, or fastest player. Skylar shares personal anecdotes that helped her become the Gatorade National High School Player of the Year and one of the most decorated collegiate basketball players. "She was the most important recruit in the history of our program," Notre Dame women's basketball head coach, Muffet McGraw, says. "Skylar was in our own backyard, and we couldn't let her get away." Skylar Diggins did not disappoint. A four-time All-American, Skylar finished her career at Notre Dame owning or co-owning 32 game, season, or school records, and earned the distinction as one of just six NCAA Division 1 players to compile 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 500 assists, and 300 steals in a career. In the WNBA, Skylar, is starting guard for the Dallas Wings, a two-time All Star Starter, WNBA's 2014 Most Improved Player and Named to WNBA's 2014 First Team. Off the court, she oversees Skylar's Scholars, a program that highlights the academic achievement of youth who have overcome challenges or achieved goals, and she serves on the board of directors for the GenYouth Foundation. Aside from sports mediums like ESPN and Sports Illustrated, Skylar has also been featured in Vogue and Self, and has been on MTV. 

Leseprobe

BroadStreet Publishing Group LLC

Racine, Wisconsin, USA

broadstreetpublishing.com

Middle School Rules of Skylar Diggins

© 2016 Skylar Diggins and Sean Jensen

ISBN 978-1-4245-5244-3 (hard cover)

ISBN 978-1-4245-5245-0 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Illustrated by Daniel Smith | sonsoftyce.com

Cover and interior design by Garborg Design Works | garborgdesign.com

Editorial services provided by Ginger Garrett | gingergarrett.com

and Michelle Winger | literallyprecise.com

Printed in China.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

from Skylar Diggins

I want to thank my family and my parents: Mom, Daddymoe, Daddy, and Shay. Mom, you are my role model. Thank for being a great example. Daddymoe, thanks for always believing in me.

Neefah, Destyn, June, Tayta – I love you all so much and I am so proud of you! I can’t wait to see what your futures hold.

Thank you to my amazing grandparents for always being there. I will always cherish our moments together!

Thank you to my Notre Dame family, especially Coach McGraw and Niele. Coach, thank you for giving me an incredible opportunity to play at the next level. Niele, thank you for being a great mentor. Thank you both for looking out for me off the court, challenging me on the court, and always pushing me outside my comfort zone.

Daniel, thank you for being one of my biggest supporters. I love you.

To my shugs, Em and Ash, thanks for always being great friends and sisters.

I want to thank all of my teammates. I’ve crossed paths with a lot of people through basketball and each team in every phase of my life was special in its own way. You helped push me.

Finally, the city of South Bend, my home, thank you.

from Sean Jensen

First, I give praise to God for all He has done in my life.

I want thank my wife Erica for her love,

and my kids, Elijah and Zarah, for inspiring me.

I also want to thank Roc Nation Sports, especially Joe Branch and Jana Fleishman, for providing myself and my publisher the connection to Skylar Diggins.

Lastly, I want to thank Daniel, Skylar, and her family for trusting me to tell their story.

INTRODUCTION

Dear Reader,

Many of you look up to me and other professional athletes. Many of you wear our jerseys and wait in long lines for our autographs.

But I want you to know something: I was that kid too.

That’s why I wanted to do The Middle School Rules. People either forget or even make up my story. They see the end product but ignore the path to get there.

You don’t know someone’s story until you see it through their eyes and hear it from their mouth.

This is my story.

I was a little girl from South Bend, and my dream was so simple but so big. I wanted to play basketball at Notre Dame and then in the WNBA.

I did both of those things, but I didn’t do it alone.

My family comes from a lot of different cultures and places. They taught me precious lessons. The stories of my life happened with the most important people of my life. Each time I read this book, I go back to those special moments. It’s something that’s evergreen for me, something that I want to pass along to my children.

These family stories are essential to me becoming the Skylar I am today.

I wanted to play at Notre Dame, but I didn’t know I would get to be a captain, go to three Final Fours, develop amazing friendships, and earn a business degree.

I wanted to play basketball, but I didn’t know I would travel the world, playing in China, Thailand, Argentina, and Greece, among many other places, and meet lifelong friends.

In the WNBA, I’ve even played with some of the women I looked up to, like Tamika Catchings and Diana Taurasi, among others.

I’ve done so many things I never thought I would be able to do.

No matter what you want to do, you have to be willing to put in the work to get there. You can do anything, no matter who you are and what your background is.

Skylar Diggins

FOREWORD

It was August 1993, and Skylar had just celebrated her third birthday at Hardee’s. I did not attend the party, but I was going to meet her for the first time afterward. I was very nervous. I had been dating her mom Renee for about four months, and I had heard so many stories about Skylar that I felt I knew her.

When they got out of Renee’s black Nissan Sentra, I saw this beautiful little girl who looked just like her mom. As Renee started to introduce me, I abruptly said, “Hi Skylar, I’m Maurice!” She looked at me, stepped closer to her Mom, and just waved. I immediately knew it was going to be a challenge. I started to think about how I was going to develop a relationship with little Sky and how I would be there for her, to love her and teach her, and help guide her through life as if she were my own.

Here’s the thing: Skylar ended up teaching me so much, and loving me even more. It’s one of her gifts. In all of her life lessons as a youngster, she always took away the positive things she could use to better herself and the people around her.

As one of the most competitive people I have ever been around, Skylar is also loyal, thoughtful, caring, honest, and genuine. She’s not the tallest athlete I’ve ever coached. Or the fastest. And I’ve coached many great ball players—but Skylar was the hardest working. Her effort applies to everything she does, on and off the court. The one thing that makes her the most special is that she makes everyone around her better: her teammates, coaches, fans, and even opponents!

The Middle School Rules of Skylar Diggins is about Sky’s life. You will get to know her family and friends, but most of all you will get to know her and what an awesome person she is.

There’s good, there’s great, there’s special, and then there’s Skylar!

Coach Moe Scott

Skylar’s DaddyMoe

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Starting Early

Chapter 2: Meeting Maurice

Chapter 3: Black or White?

Chapter 4: Granny Stella

Chapter 5: Rough around the Edges

Chapter 6: Skylar Plays Basketball at the Y

Chapter 7: There Is No “i” in Team

Chapter 8: Hungry for School

Chapter 9: Seeing the Future

Chapter 10: Keeping Her Cool

Chapter 11: Losing the Race

Chapter 12: Irish Win National Title

Chapter 13: Heart Broken

Chapter 14: The Sanctuary

Chapter 15: Connecting with Em

Chapter 16: “We Are a Family”

Chapter 17: Back to Earth

Chapter 18: Open Gym

Chapter 19: Watch and Learn

Chapter 20: Renee’s Rules

Chapter 21: Big Sister

Chapter 22: Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 23: Mrs. Wilson

Chapter 24: The Offer

Chapter 25: Underdogs

Chapter 26: Crash Course

Chapter 27: Clashing with Daddymoe

Chapter 28: Stepping Up

Chapter 29: Mrs. Ehmer

Chapter 30: Papa John

Chapter 31: The Decision

Chapter 32: Unfair B

Chapter 33: Senior Year

Epilogue

Chapter 1

Starting Early

All birthdays are special, and the best ones bring great memories and presents. But sometimes a present creates a memory and changes your life.

Skylar sees a stack of wrapped gifts at the third house on the “Skylar Diggins Birthday Tour.” It’s August 2, 1993, and she is celebrating her third birthday. Skylar has so many aunties and uncles and grandparents that she works her way around South Bend, Indiana, from home to home, collecting hugs, kisses, and gifts.

At her first stop, she receives a soft and cuddly Barney-the-dinosaur doll. Now, at Granny Pauline and Granddad Bennie’s, she sees gifts: a red tricycle with a red bow, and then, a few feet away, one massive box wrapped in blue paper.

Her eyes light up.

How could this day get any better? she thinks.

“That’s from Mom and Daddy,” her daddy says.

Her mom, Renee, however, rolls her eyes. Mom has no idea what’s in the big box.

FLASHBACK

Tige is Skylar’s daddy, and he played two years of varsity basketball at Clay High School. He still plays in very competitive rec leagues. He loves to watch sports, especially supporting teams from the University of Michigan.

The college’s mascot is the Wolverine, and Tige tracks a lot of their games, especially in football. Once, when he was feeding baby Skylar a bottle of milk, the Wolverines scored a touchdown, and he jumped up and screamed, “Yeah!”

Startled, baby Skylar cries.

When Skylar barely stands, Tige tosses her a soft baseball.

She catches it.

When Skylar barely moves, Tige hands her a football.

She runs with it.

“She’s kind of athletic at two years old,” Tige proudly tells his friends.

When he playfully tries to tackle her, Skylar does all she can to avoid him and keeps running with the ball.

Renee does not like this sort of horse play one bit.

“She’s not a boy!” she yells at Tige. “You’re too physical with her.”

Mom nervously watches as Skylar rips the wrapping paper off the present that’s bigger than the three-year-old.

Pictured on the massive box is a basketball hoop.

Skylar squeals with delight.

“Open it!” Skylar shouts, jumping up and down. “Open it, please!”

The hoop has a black base, a silver pole that adjusts height, an orange rim with a thick, white net, and a black backboard with a basketball pictured in an orange border.

Daddy quickly puts the hoop together, filling the black base with water so it won’t topple over.

Once the hoop is assembled, Skylar picks up the mini orange basketball and shoots it.

Swish!

She makes her first attempt.

Skylar feels a tingling sensation rush through her body. She loves the feeling.

“Skylar, why don’t you open up your other gifts?” Mom gently asks, pointing to a half dozen wrapped boxes.

But Skylar just wants to play with her new hoop.

She trots over to her Daddy, prodding him to pick her up so she can dunk the ball.

“Let’s play,” she says.

Daddy immediately adjusts the hoop to its tallest setting, which is six feet high. Skylar tries another shot, but it’s not so easy anymore. She repeatedly shoots the ball with all her might, and she often misses the rim altogether.

When the game starts, Daddy doesn’t take it easy on Skylar.

“Get that out of here!” he playfully shouts as he sends Skylar’s shot flying across the room.

Skylar furrows her eyebrows, and Mom shakes her head.

Chapter 2

Meeting Maurice

Skylar loves both of her parents, and her parents love her.

Tige and Renee met in high school at ShowBiz Pizza Place, a chain restaurant that features arcade games and coin-operated rides.

While Renee was pregnant, a family friend from the east coast came for a visit. The woman was pretty and smart, and her name was Skyler. So, when Renee and Tige discovered in early 1990 that they were having a girl, Tige suggested Skylar—with an a instead of an e—as the baby’s name.

Renee loved it.

But Skylar’s mom and dad don’t stay together. Mom and Skylar live in a two-bedroom apartment just east of South Bend, in the town of Mishawaka.

Mom introduces a new man into Skylar’s life after her third birthday. His name is Maurice, and basketball is a big part of his life too. He plays, coaches, and even referees the sport. Maurice works at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center on the west side of South Bend, a few blocks away from the city cemetery.

Skylar does not like Maurice. She figures he is the reason Mom and Daddy are not together.

After the King Center closes in the evening, Maurice sometimes stops by the Mishawaka apartment to chat and watch television with Mom. Though she is supposed to be in bed asleep, Skylar sometimes makes a point of walking from her bedroom to the top of the stairs.

“Is he gone yet?” she yells down.

But as she starts to spend more time at the King Center, Skylar notices something about Maurice. People love him—especially kids! He pours himself into all of them: the big ones, little ones, disabled ones, talented ones, and not-so-talented ones.

Maurice is patient, energetic, and he makes everything fun.

After a while, Skylar doesn’t like it when other kids want to give Maurice a hug or a hi-five. Slowly but surely, her heart softens toward him. She admires his personality, and he makes her laugh—a lot.

She simply could not, not like him!

When Skylar is six, she learns from Mom and Maurice that they plan to get married. Maurice pulls Skylar aside.

“How do you feel about this, Skylar?” he gently asks.

She appreciates that Maurice is thoughtful enough to talk to her before the marriage.

“I’m happy for you, Maurice!” Skylar says.

Maurice smiles.

“Let’s come up with another name for you to call me,” Maurice says. “Call me whatever makes you comfortable. Why don’t you think about it for a while.”

What would she call this man? She already has a daddy.

After a few days, Skylar comes up with the right name.

“Can I call you Daddymoe?” she asks Maurice. Skylar likes the name because it combines his nickname with his budding role in her life.

“Sure,” he says with his big smile. “That’s got a nice ring to it.”

Skylar likes the name more and more because she is the only one that calls Maurice Daddymoe. And as time passes, people only use the name in relation to her. For example, a relative would say to Skylar, “Where is your Daddymoe?”

There’s another advantage to opening up her heart to Daddymoe; he has a daughter named Haneefah who is two years younger than Skylar.

Now I’m not the only child, Skylar thinks.