don't think i said anything about it here. did a brief post on fb.

i coach varsity girls (head coach) and assist on varsity boys, where my son is a senior. his teammate, ryan, was a sophomore. already getting d1 interest. he played for another team last year. he and my son were in the dunk contest at the end of year homeschool tournament.

both of them have really strong aspirations and prospects to play at the next level, and had been working out. three thursdays ago, the boys had practice. they ended up, as they usually do, having a dunk off, and then getting up a bunch of 3s. my son had invited ryan to join him to go work out w/ his pro trainer. ryan at first was going to go, and hten decided to chill w/his gf instead.

slight rain fell. nc be having dark ass roads. dude had his license, but not his 'After 9' (nc has a graduated license program, so you have to have so much experience before you are allowed to drive after 9pm, unless you are coming from work). he was stressing being home late and was speeding. hit a tree 2 mi from his crib. his parents were looking for him and wondering where he was. dad and brother went out and came upon hte scene w/ the emergency vehicles. my son and i get the call around 11 something that night, and we drive to wake med and, along w/ fam and a few other teammates and friends, we're there all night.

massive head (and chest) injuries. they do an operation to reduce the swelling on the brain. it's 'successful'. but he stays in a coma. he was breathing on his own and doing a little reflexive stuff. but in retrospect, i think he was gone since the crash. 4 days later, with their friend/teammate in a coma, we have our first game, and then preseason tournament. the boys try to forget when they're on the court.

he passed, officially, last sunday night. our game tonight was rescheduled. funeral is tomorrow.

this is the second player i've coached to die while in high school over the last 3 years.

i was just getting to know ryan. nice kid with a ton of upside, very likeable, hard working. the other one was, i guess, 2 februaries ago. jeremiah. i had coached him for multiple years in football. Free Safety. Running back. #9. he was a teammate of my son cj3. really nice, respectful, hardworking and engaging kid. he took his own life (shotgun).

that was really tough to deal with.

RIP Ryan #33
RIP Jeremiah #9





peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad