7th grade they had three series of cuts for varsity bball. I made the cut to 20, made the cut to 15. Then the coach was deciding whether he wanted to keep it at 15 or cut to 12. I knew I was borderline, but I thought if I made the team I could move up and make an impact...in the end he decided to cut to 13. The assistant coach's son made it even though I was certainly better than him, but there was only 1 other suspect guy who made the squad and 11 guys who were better than me. I was the dominant player on JV all year, but the JV coaches didn't really take it that seriously and I knew I wasn't going to be anything at that point.
Until then I thought that I was just a natural baller and I deserved to make squads...I'd always been the best player on my rec teams. But as a 12-year-old in 7th grade I was only 5'2" and hadn't had my growth spurt yet....didn't have handles...didn't have superior athleticism yet....I was living off of a decent shot, strong IQ as a passer, and a motor on defense.
It wasn't enough.

Didn't hit my growth spurt and pass 6' until sophomore year was over.
I'd played soccer all through elementary school like all the kids I knew, so my football career was supposed to start in 7th grade. But I broke my arm badly in a bicycle accident about a month before the season started and the doctor banned me from playing football for 12 months. After that I was always playing catch-up and knew I wasn't going anywhere - just playing college ball at all was my goal at first, and when I got there I was just aiming to be a starter by my senior year and knew I didn't have the slightest chance of ever going anywhere....and when I blew out my knee sophomore year in college and the rehab went poorly even that hope was over.
