Diary Of A Female Baller: Zoey Brooks 23' (Holy Savior Academy Middle School) Plainfield, New Jersey / New Jersey Sparks Entry #2

Zoe & Azzi Fudd

Thanks for reading.

Monday, April 16

Talk about a bad day. After school my dad told me that two of our starters, Kelyse and Kool Aid, were definitely not playing this weekend at the Nike Invitational in Virginia because they are still injured. Also, another starter, Gabby, is out for Boo Williams because her grandfather passed away. Gabby, I’m sorry to hear about your grandfather.

Tuesday, April 17

This week in school was different because we had testing in all of our subjects. At the end of the school day my brain was fried. The good part about testing was that we don’t have homework all week. After school, I took a power nap. After that, I went to the gym and worked out for two hours. When I got home, I ate dinner and Face-Timed my friends.

Wednesday, April 18

After school, I watched TV and then went to EMB to train. My hamstring was feeling a little tight during my workout, so when I got home I did a bunch of stretches to loosen it up.

Thursday, April 19

I had a good session with my trainer Eric. We worked on my handle and shooting. This was my last work out before heading to Boo Williams and I think I’m ready. Afterwards, me, my brother and my dad picked up Chili’s for dinner and I went home and did laundry and got packed for the weekend.

Friday, April 20

My dad woke up the entire house at 3 a.m. and we got on the road around 4. About 25 minutes into the ride, my mom realized she forgot her cell phone and we had to turn around and go back home. The trip took us about seven hours and the first thing we did once we got to Virginia was get something to eat and hit the mall. At the mall I ran into my Sparks’ teammates Kayla, Kelyse and Kool Aid. I think it’s cool that Kelyse and Koolaid came to support the team even though they aren’t playing. Our game was at 8 p.m. and we played the St. Louis Eagles. I could give you a bunch of good excuses why we lost, but the bottom line is it wasn’t our night. Afterwards, me and my dad stayed in the gym watching a bunch of other 14U games and I kept feeling if we were healthy, we could beat them all.

Saturday, April 21

Without three starters and playing up a grade, we took the court against the Maryland Belles 14U at 8 a.m. We started off strong, led by four at halftime and won the game by double digits. My shot was on and I had 15 points in the first half but what I was most proud of is the way the entire team contributed to the win. Special shout out to Carey, Lauryn, Kayla and Mikaela for the way they stepped up in the second half.

Our second game of the day was against the Alabama Twisters. It seemed like every shot we took went in and we won by a lot. Tori and Laila were great for us.

After the game I went over to watch the Sparks 17U EYBL team play the Fairfax Stars. It was an unbelievable experience. There were so many college coaches checking out the game, including UCONN women’s coach Geno Auriemma. The stands were packed and even though the Sparks lost, it was a great game. Azzi Fudd from Fairfax really stood out to me. She could shoot threes, had an amazing pull up, could get to the rim and played just as hard on defense as she did on offense. I later found out she was only a freshman. I wear No. 35 because Kevin Durant is my favorite player. Azzi wears No. 35, too.

Sunday, April 22

Me and my dad went over to Boo Williams to watch some more EYBL games. Fairfax beat Team Takeover in the EYBL Final and Azzi, who was the best player I saw at the tournament, scored 26 points. After the game, I took a picture with her before heading over to support the Sparks 17U EYBL team. The Sparks beat Boo Williams by two to finish with a record of 4-1.

Diary Of A Female Baller: Zoey Brooks 23' Holy Savior Academy, Plainfield, New Jersey / New Jersey Sparks Entry #1

Zoe & Sparks Family

Hi, my name is Zoe Brooks. I’m a 13 year-old from Plainfield, N.J., and this is my first diary of a Female Baller. I’m in seventh grade, I play AAU for the New Jersey Sparks and my basketball nicknames are Baby Storrs, Bully and Z-Bow. Thanks for reading.

Monday, April 9, 2018

Today is my first day back from Spring Break. After school, we had Sparks practice. Although our practices are hard, I always have fun because my teammates are some of my best friends. We did a lot of skill work and focused on defensive shell drill.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Ouch! I woke up and my back is killing me. I think I hurt my back last night at Sparks practice. I have to rest and ice it. The last time I felt like this was back in the fall. It ended up being growing pains and I grew about two inches. I’ve decided to stay home from school and just do my homework online so that I won’t be behind tomorrow. After I completed my homework, I watched TV and Youtube for the rest of the day.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

I woke up and my back was still hurting me but I went to school. Before I left, I put Icy Hot on my back because that helped me last time my I felt like this. I was feeling a little better after school, so my dad took me to the gym. The name of the gym I go to is called Lifetime Fitness. It’s one of the best gyms out there. It has two full basketball courts, a really big weight room, an indoor pool, an outdoor pool and a kiddy room because you have to be 12 years old or older to go up in the weight room. I tried some ball handling and my back was bothering me so I decided to just do shooting. I put up shots from different places on the floor. Then after about a hour and a half of that I went upstairs to try and stretch my back out. After two hours in the gym I went home and went to sleep.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Today was pretty cool. I was still dealing with my growing pains, but we didn’t have an actual Sparks basketball practice. Instead we had Media Day and a WNBA Draft Party to celebrate former Sparks players Myisha Hines - Allen and Teana Muldrow on being picked 19th and 29th in the WNBA Draft. Although I don’t personally know them, that’s a great accomplishment and shows what happens when you work hard. Congrats!

Also, we received our new uniforms for the upcoming AAU season, had a photo shoot and there was food and music.

Friday, April 13, 2018

Finally, I woke up feeling good enough to get back to my normal basketball routine. After school, I worked out with my trainer at Eric Myrick Basketball for two hours. I love going to EMB on Fridays because he focuses on catch and shoot and shooting off the dribble with the proper footwork and form.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Today was our first AAU tournament of the spring - the New Jersey Sparks Basketball Classic in Paterson. During the winter season, our team, which is coached by Chez Williams, Keith Gilchrist and Brandon Howell, won 57 games and lost just once. We won a lot of championships and were one of the best seventh grade teams on the East Coast. For the spring, we’ve decided we’re going to play up a grade in order to be challenged more. We had three games and none of them were close. We blew out the New Jersey Crusaders, St. Michael’s and Philly Freedom Stars.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

We beat a tough New York Havoc team by double digits in the semifinals but had a really bad game against Takeover in the championship. None of us played well, we had two starters carried off the floor because of injury and Takeover did to us what we normally do to other teams. We travel to Boo Williams in Virginia on Friday for a big tournament and we’re going to be short-handed because of the players that got hurt. As we learned today - Gabby, Mikaela, Carey, Tori, Lauryn, Kayla, Laila, Kool Aid and Kelyse - we have to play better in order to compete on this level. I’m confident we will.

Diary Of A Female Baller: Emily LaPointe 19' (Staten Island Academy, NY Manhattan Committed) Entry #8

Emily & Family

Hey this is Em checking out of my last 

week of a Diary Of A Female Baller its 

been fun. 

Monday March 26th

This morning I woke up and went to the gym. When I came home from working out my dad and I went to a basketball gym so I can workout and put some shots up. Next week I am getting back to Hoops America to begin training again. I was supposed to leave for California tomorrow with two of my friends, but one of them got really sick and I had to cancel my flight at 10:30pm. 

Tuesday March 27th

Because my trip had to be cancelled, my mom decided to take me to New Jersey to go shopping. We went to Menlo Mall and shopped for a couple of hours. When I came home, I went to the gym to shoot and work on my ball handling. When I came home my friend came over for a little to hangout and than I got an early night sleep. 

Wednesday March 28th

This afternoon I went to a party at my friends house. After the party, my friend Maxine and I went to get something to eat. I came home and took a nap and than got up and got to working on my game. I spent the night with my family, watching movies and TV shows. 

Thursday March 29th

For most of the morning, I worked on basketball and training. After I finished working out, I went out to eat with a couple of my friends. We hung out for a while and than I went home and just relaxed. 

Friday March 30th

Today was a lazy day. I went to the gym and hung around my house until night. My best friend Maxine came over and we watched the girls semi-finals game. I was hyped that Notre Dame won, they really deserved it. 

Saturday March 31st

Today was a really fun day. My friend from school turned 17th today, and as a way of celebrating, she invited a couple of her friends to dinner at a place called The Tuck Room in the city. We went to dinner and watched the boys semi-finals games while we were there.

Sunday April 1st

This morning my family and I had a nice breakfast for Easter Sunday. We went to Church at 1:30. I have a lot of blessings in my life, so it is always good to praise and thank God. After mass I went to my uncles, my dad’s brothers house. We spent Easter with my family and it was a great time. At night we watched the Notre Dame and Mississippi Game.