Diary Of A Female Baller: Lauryn Swann 24' Teaneck, NJ - Valley Stream North School - NJ Sparks - Entry #7

 Lauryn & Zahra King

Hello basketball world, I'm back with my week 7 Diary.

Monday 1/10 

Today we play the best team in our conference and it’s our last game of the season. Last time we played them I played terrible and we lost by 32. I told my friend that if I don’t score 30 he could slap me really hard. That motivated me because I don’t like getting hit. The whole team was really sad because the season went by extremely fast and we didn’t want it to end. We decided to give this game our all and leave it all on the court. The day went on and I was getting more nervous for the game and more sad that the season was about to end. When school ended I hung out with my friends for a little bit then got ready for the game. I felt good warming up because my shots were falling and so were my falling. I was gonna put my all into this game because it’s last game of the season and I wanted to make it memorable. We start off our game hitting majority of our shots and we were up in the 1st quarter. Everyone was getting hype and we kept feeding off their energy and held the lead. It got close during the fourth quarter but me and my teammate hit some clutch free throws at the end to put us up by 5 and then that was it. Our season was over and we went out with a dub. We upset the best team in our conference and we had cupcakes to celebrate. I went to bed really happy.

Tuesday 2/11

I went to bed really late last night so it took me a long time to get ready for school so thank god I have my hair braided up so it didn’t take me as long as it normally would to get ready. I was happy at school the whole day from last nights win. The school day went by faster than usual. After school I went into the locker room and normally there’s at least two of my teammates in there but there was no one there and it made me sad because it hit me that our season was over. I went to train with Jerry right after school but I was late so he made me train with one of the other trainers but we still put some good work in. We worked on different combo moves into different variations of pull ups and counter moves. After the workout I went home and fell asleep.

Wednesday 2/12

 

I got ready for school today but I couldn’t find my ID so once I finally found it, I was going to be late. I made it to class 5 seconds before the first bell rang thank god. After school I had to finish my English project that was due on Friday. Last week I missed two days of school so I was really behind so it took me way longer than it was suppose to finish the project. After I finished my project I went to train with Jerry then I went home and went to bed.

Diary Of A Female Baller: Lauryn Swann 24' Teaneck, NJ - Valley Stream North School - NJ Sparks - Entry #6

Lauryn & Teammates

Hello basketball world, this is Lauryn checking back in with Diary #6

Monday 2/3

I woke up really early today and couldn’t go back to sleep so during 1st period since all we were doing was reading, I took a 15 minute nap because that book was putting me to sleep. I was feeling confident about our game today considering we had the home court advantage and the refs wouldn’t cheat us or throw the game for us like they did the last time we played this team. As the day went on I got a lot of homework and I had to do the majority of it during my lunch period and I barely got eat and I was starving by the end of the day and I went to get food with two of my teammates. When it was time for our game I got a lot of shots up during warmups to make sure I was hitting shots during the game. The game started off good and we were in the game within the first quarter as usual but the rest of the game went downhill. The refs were awful just like when we played them at their gym. They called on the floor fouls so I couldn’t shoot free throws even though I was obviously shooting and they wouldn’t call any fouls for me when I was getting pushed in the back but I made sure I didn’t say anything to the refs so I wouldn’t give then a reason to give the game away for us. Within the fourth quarter it was obvious how the refs were moving and there wasn’t anything we could’ve done. We lost the game by like 15 and the whole team was upset because of the reason we lost. I thought about the game for a while reflecting on the game and what aspects I could’ve done better in and I realized all things were in my favor. There wasn’t anything I could’ve done better. My shot selection was really good, my shots were hitting for the most part, and I wasn’t fouling but the refs were killing us. I’m not one to blame a lose on refs but that game was blown for us just like the other time we played them. I went to bed feeling good about myself knowing that I did all I could in that game.

Tuesday 2/4

I woke up extremely tired and i didn’t feel like spending a lot of time picking out an outfit so I just threw in the first shirt I found and put on some black jeans. I don’t like going to school when we don’t have games because the days just feel longer and they’re uninteresting. After school I went straight home then came back to school for a light practice of going over plays the went home and went to sleep.

Wednesday 2/5

Today we play against Bethpage who has to win this game in order to make the playoffs. Last time we played against them I had 39 points and we still lost. I woke up this morning with a fever and a stiff neck. I felt terrible but I had to play. My mom let me sleep in to see if I felt better but by 12 I felt worse but I had to start getting ready for school or I wouldn’t be able to play later. It took me way longer than usual to get ready for school and I got there half way through sixth period. I hadn’t eaten all day and I had lunch next period but all I did was sleep. Eighth and ninth period went the same way. I was half dosed off the whole time and sweating a lot because for some reason it was extremely hot in school. After school ended I went straight to the locker room to change and took a little nap. I went to the nurses office and checked my temperature and I still had a fever but I didn’t care. I was knocked out the whole bus ride and took every pill or medicine you could possibly think of. When we got to the gym I had put something in my stomach because it’s been empty the whole day. I forced myself to eat two bags lf Doritos and took some DayQuil which didn’t help at all. During the jv game I did my homework and relaxed. I had a good warmup but I was still feeling a little sluggish. When the game started and I got my momentum flowing the sluggishness started to go away but I started to feel really cold. We were in the game the whole time but by the fourth quarter I ran out of gas and had no energy left. We ended up losing the game by like 10 but I knew that if I was at my 100% we could’ve won that game.

Diary Of A Female Baller: Lauryn Swann 24' Teaneck, NJ - Valley Stream North School - NJ Sparks - Entry #5

Lauryn Swann & Nike

Hello basketball world, this is Lauryn checking back in with Diary number 5.

Monday 1/27

I woke up exhausted and struggling to get out of bed but I had to get up or I would’ve been late and had a Saturday detention. When I got up it was extremely cold and it took me a while to be able to fully wake up. I went to school and 1st and second period went by extremely slow. Slower than usual and it was a double period. In social studied we studied for a test we were having on Thursday and Spanish we went over vocab. We had over 30 words to learn but only 2 days to learn them because we had a quiz that Wednesday. The rest of the day went by normal, put very slow. After school the junior high girls team had try outs so I watched them try out for a while and then went home to go change to come back to school for practice at 7. At practice we did our normal drills and then we did a 3 on 3 tournament which was really fun. After practice I went home to study and do my homework then I relaxed and went to sleep at around 10:30

Tuesday 1/28

It’s game day today and we play the #1 team in our conference so I got up easily because I was excited. I put on my jersey because my team wears our jerseys to school when we have away games. When we have games when I get to school it’s a daily routine of “Oh, you have a game today? How much are you gonna drop? Y’all better not lose! I want a 30 ball.” From all my friends and other random people. I always give the same response tho, “I gotchu”. It does get annoying at times but it is really funny. During 3rd period I always have a two minute basketball conversation with my Social Studies teacher because he’s the boys varsity basketball coach at South (the other high school in Valley Stream) and he knows all the teams that we play against. The rest of the day went by good. I got ready pretty fast and we got to the school at around 3:30. Right off the tip as usual I was getting double teamed and hacked, I handled it well though. We were tied in the 1st quarter 9 to 9 but in the beginning of the 2nd, Floral Park went on a run and there was no coming back from that. After the game I went straight home to relax and go to sleep.

Wednesday 1/29

I woke up exhausted today since I didn’t sleep well last night. I had to throw on any random outfit because I decided to sleep in an extra fifteen minutes. I wasn’t really feeling well but I knew even if I begged, my mom wasn’t going to let me stay home from school. I rushed to get ready and we left the house at around 7:35. School was long and boring and there wasn’t a lot of interesting stuff happening like majority of the school days. After school I watched the junior high boys volleyball game with my friend Bella. The whole game I had no idea what was going on so she was explaining what was going on throughout the game. After the game I had to rush home to change really quick to come back to school for practice. Practice was long and boring and I couldn’t wait for it to finally finish. Once practice ended I had to wait like 20 minutes for my mom to come get me. Once I got home I studied for an hour and a half and then went to sleep.

Diary Of A Female Baller: Lauryn Swann 24' Teaneck, NJ - Valley Stream North School - NJ Sparks - Entry #4

Lauryn Swann

Hello basketball world, I'm back with my week 4 Diary.

Monday 1/20

I woke up today around 6:30 really mad because I stayed up late last night knowing that I had to wake up early to go to Jerry's at 8. As soon as I got to Jerry he was on my case and I was not in the mood. He was yelling at me over every little thing and it was getting me mad. If I wasn’t counting out the made shots, touching my hair, running to get water, little stuff like that was what he was yelling at me about. He made us run like dogs half the time which made me even more mad. The hour was finally up and I had to go to physical therapy to get stretched out. When I go to physical therapy since I have extremely tight hips I get stretched out and my hips massaged and loosened then I leave. But today when I got my hips massaged it was torture. It took all of me not to scream like a little girl so I just quietly squealed and punched the table. After physical therapy I went to Brooklyn to go watch my friend Grace play. Then we picked up some food and went home and I chilled for the rest of the day then went to sleep by 10.

Tuesday 1/21

I woke up at 6:15 and got moving but I was not feeling well at all. At around 6:30 I asked my mom if I could stay home from school and with little questioning of what was wrong she surprisingly let me stay home. Normally I have to be practically dying or lost a limb to stay home from school but my mom let me stay home the whole day. I spent the whole day studying and sleeping which was exactly what I needed and at around 6-7 pm I felt better. I had dinner then went back to sleep.

Diary Of A Female Baller: Lauryn Swann 24' Teaneck, NJ - Valley Stream North School - NJ Sparks - Entry #3

Lauryn & Kateri Poole

Hello basketball world, checking in with week 3 Diary.

Monday 1/13

I woke up at 6 and got ready for school. The day went by normally and after school I watched the boys junior high team play at 4. Then I had a light practice and we goofed around a lot because our coach was in a good mood then I went home and played around with my dog for a while then studied then went to sleep.

Tuesday 1/14

Woke up at my usual time and went to school. In all of my classes we’ve been reviewing and studying for the whole period because mid terms are on Friday. The only mid term I’m stressed about is my Social Studies mid term. I missed a month of school when I moved from New Jersey to New York because of the process of getting into a school and I missed a lot of the work that they did do I have to catch up and learn what I missed but my teacher has been helping me out with catching up as best as he can. I had a Vocabulary quiz in Science which i’ve been studying for all week and then the rest of my day went on normally. I had practice after the Varsity Boys team’s game so I watched them play and they lost by two but it was a good game. We had a light practice of running plays which was really boring but that's what we needed to work on for tomorrows game. After practice I went home to chill, eat, and go to sleep.

Name: Faith Robinson

Team: New Jersey Sparks

Class: 2024

State: NJ

Position: Forward

Profile: High energy player who likes to be assertive around the basket, can score in different ways within 8 feet of the basket, high motor, aggressive, defends, plays with a chip on her shoulder.

Diary Of A Female Baller: Lauryn Swann 24' Teaneck, NJ - Valley Stream North School - NJ Sparks - Entry #2

Lauryn & Classmates

Hello basketball world, this L checking back in with week #2

Monday 1/6

I went to school and the school day went by really slow and boring. After school I watched my team play because we had a home game. This was the last school game I had to sit before I could return to play because of my concussion. The other team was really good and they ended up beating us badly. After the game I went home to do my homework and went to sleep.

Tuesday 1/7

I woke up at around 5:45 and decided to not go back to sleep and got ready for school. I got to school at around 7:40. As usual my, school day was boring except for 9th period because we had a lock down. I was mad though because 9th period is my home and careers class and we were suppose to make and eat french bread pizza but because of the lockdown we had no time and we have to eat it tomorrow. I watched the boys junior high basketball team play and then i went to my grandmas house to chill for a while then went back to school for practice at 7. We had a light practice and we just put up shots and ran plays and we were done by 8:30. After practice I went home to do homework and went to sleep.

Diary Of A Female Baller: Lauryn Swann 24' Teaneck, NJ - Teaneck Middle School - NJ Sparks - Entry #1

Lauryn Swann

Hello basketball world,  this is L checking in with my first entry.

Monday 12/30

I had the whole day off so i spent it sleeping and playing 2k. i never take my off days for granted because i never know when the next one is coming. But today's off day was much needed. I'm kind of mad that my whole winter break was spent waking up at the same time that i do for school and training for 3+ hours majority of the week but the grinding will pay off soon.

Tuesday 12/31 

I Woke up at 7 to go to training. We get there and I see Jerry isn't there and its 8 o'clock already. Its around 8:20 and Jerry still isn't there so we just start the workout w/o him. We go through our usual routine getting shots until and he’s still not there by 8:45 so we end the workout how we normally do. I went to my friends house until 11:45 and then came back to Jerry’s. He was there this time but he was laid out on his couch in his office knocked out cold because he was sick. He was too sick to train so I went home and got to relax for the rest of the day. I was too tired to watch the ball drop and i was sleeping by 9.

Wednesday 1/1

I woke up around 7 to go to Jerry and again he wasn’t there but the other trainers said he was coming in later. So it was only me and 2 other boys so we played horse and king of the court for an hour and a half to get some shots up and work on some moves. By like 9:30 i got dressed and went to go to a diner w/ my mom so we could come back to Jerry at 12. When we got back to the gym he was there but in a really bad mood. He made us run a lot and it wasn’t very fun running on a full stomach but I pushed through it until 1 and I went home to chill and do my homework before i go back to school tomorrow.

Thursday 1/2

I had to set multiple alarm clocks to get myself ready and alert for school today. (3 a.m., 5 a.m., 5:45, and 6). I finally got myself up and threw on the outfit i picked out last night. I did my hair and fed my dog and ate. I was ready by 7:20 and went to school. There was barely anyone there and everyone was half asleep which was good because in majority of my classes we didn't learn anything new or we played games. I got out of school at 2:43 and I had to go down to the weight room in my school because i had to work out for a little bit w/ the athletic trainer at my school because i was on the return to play protocol for my school basketball team because I had a concussion. After i was done w/ that I waled w/ my friends a couple of blocks to get some food. We hung out for an hour and walked back to the school. My mom picked me up and I had to hurry and go home to change so I could go to Jerry. It took way longer than it normally did and I was late. But I worked out for an hour and a half then i went home to eat then I had to go back to my school at 8 for practice until 9:30. After that i went home to finish my homework and study and I went to bed.

Friday 1/3

Woke up at 6:30 did my morning routine and got to school around 7:40. School day went by really slow. got out at 2:43 then hung out for a little bit. I Went to practice then got home to do my homework and went right to sleep.