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you're considered the best in the game I
mean there was there Z but you've even
been dubbed the LeBron of the game of
the virtual game now I know you grew up
with humble beginnings and Cleveland
Ohio and I'm wondering what those humble
beginnings in Cleveland taught you about
setting a goal taught you about working
toward that goal talk to you you know
taught you about achieving a dream could
you speak to us for this yes so um you
know I grew up you know interesting you
know how everything came together I grew
up you know pretty rough I grew up in
Cleveland Ohio born and raised and grew
up in a pretty rough neighborhood and I
think the way I grew up what it taught
me is you know how to work like how to
grind you know and I think that's what
helped me get here today just um I had
to Brown for everything um you know just
to just to be able to eat no we wouldn't
have something to eat so in order to be
like man like how are we gonna get $10
to go get milk bread eggs cheese so I
think you know whether that was you know
pumping gas or shoveling snow you know
because it actually snows in Cleveland
it'd be pretty cold so whether that
shoveling snow or you know I'm Drive
driveways or you know whatever I have to
do just you know grind you know that's
what I was taught that's what I grew up
one and I'm just grind and work hard for
you know what everyday is you want in
life so I think that's what kind of
helped me get here and um you know I'm
very thankful for the way I grew up
absolutely now when we when we find that
that passion of ours there's always a
story of how it came into our lives so
I'm wondering how did you find gaming
how did you find becoming an expert at
this and and how did you first realize
on top of that that this something I can
do for my life yes so um I guess my
story with how everything sort of began
was it started in to canine that was
soft so I'm a professional NBA 2k player
so I am eh
professionally professionally and NBA 2k
is basically just basketball so I played
the game basketball professionally
virtually the way that sort of began is
2009 when I started playing I got my
first xbox 360 my mother actually gave
me the money in you know whenever I Xbox
360
I bought Xbox Live you know and and when
you start gaming and you know I had Xbox
and Xbox Live so I'm thinking like okay
I have everything I need and I'm about
to start gaming ready right away
no they don't tell you everything you
mean you got to have good internet
because if you don't have good I'm gonna
start playing the game and then that's
gone you're like gonna be lagging and
everything and it won't work right so I
got ice live and um I got 316 I started
playing to k9 so I'm playing to k9 and
everything transitioned from my real
life love and passion for the game of
basketball which is why I started
playing NBA 2k so I'm sorry playing 2k9
with friends and everybody around the
neighborhood and we're just playing like
five on five so I'm controlling like
LeBron James and you're controlling look
at knots again we're guarding each other
so it's hobby five and I'm playing with
people around the neighborhood so 2k9
was sort of like the start up here so
and once I started playing I just fell
in love with there like you know so I'm
getting home from school you know I'm
doing my whole working game it for the
rest of the night and then wake up and
do everything again so sue came on was
to practice here and then 2k10 and 2k11
which was 2010 to 2011 I had the number
one ranked team in the world so there's
a leaderboard that states like shows all
the stats ought to assess all the points
per game all the wins losses losses um
from every team and every player in the
world so I had the number one team in
the world consecutively both year so two
gates in it to get 11 some like man like
I'm actually pretty good at this like so
from there on to k12 to about 2k 16 so
for those next like four years I'm just
playing in tournaments so I'm trying to
play in tournaments and I can win $50
here you know $20 here $30 here and you
know that was everything
that's why he big money yes Tom so
because you know $20 that's food you
know for the next couple of days or $10
you know that's the $10 I could give to
my parents too you know going by that
milk egg cheese bread whatever we need
it so I started so for them years I'm
playing and you know I'm just playing
out out of the love of the game like I
love it so for the longest time I wasn't
making money I wasn't making any money
from gaming so I'm playing and just you
know playing for bragging rights or
respect from other top players so we're
playing like um game battles with this
like in which is like MLG that are the
cob players and professional eSports
players play and that's where you know
like it really really took off were all
like the competitiveness started so in
2016 they announced this 250 thousand
dollar tournament for NBA 2k so when
they announced that I'm like oh man like
this is what I've been playing all these
years for it like this is what I've been
grinding for this is it like this is
what I mean to do so we went in we went
on I built the team and I went on then I
went and competed for the 70 $50,000 I
lost first round so we lost so the first
time the first game you load it up and I
lost that game so I'm like devastated
heartbroken like I'm like man like I
just turned the game off and I was super
frustrated and just hard work and then I
went to sleep immediately so after I
woke up I started working towards the
next year I mean I'm like man they have
to do this again like they have to they
just have to because this can't be the
end so I'm working towards suitcase 17
and suitcase 17 comes around and they
announced the $250,000 turning minute
again so the first year in 2016 it was
the road to the finals and then the
second year it was the road to the
all-star tournament so they announced it
and I'm like okay we're not losing this
time we like him and we're about to do
it so I built the team again and we went
on to play the tournament but before we
played the tournament they announced the
NBA 2k league which is what I do now so
the NBA 2k league is just
MBA organizations coming along and
having a gaming team and the eSports
team and you know they drives you and
then you basically do so what I always
say is I do like a literal mimic of the
actual NBA so I fly I travel the world I
play against other NBA organizations I
get to meet cool like celebrity people
and you know the best part about it is
to make money obviously I can support
myself and um so I'm playing against so
you know all these other teams and stuff
but when they announced it they
announced this as well so I'm like wow
man you know $250,000 it's cool but you
know this is like a career this is
something I could do for the rest of my
life Wow so I went on to the $250,000
tournament the second year so the road
to all-star and I went to play it but I
was planning to like get my name out
there let people know who I am and you
know showcase my skills basically to
show people how good I am at the game so
I went on and I played my heart out and
we ended up winning the whole tournament
so I end up winning the $250,000
tournament and I want like the MVP award
I'm averaging like 33 points per game 14
assists per game you know just going
crazy and I was I think the reason I
went so crazy is because I really like
needed it and one if they're like this
is what I wanted to do I knew that from
the get-go and I just really liked the
end and um now I'm here today as the
number one overall pick for it you know
the Dallas Mavericks and Matt's game you
know it's just been a crazy ride wow wow
what someone who's successful as you are
always is looking ahead the way you are
in a game always keep an eye in the head
what do you have on the horizon for you
what do you have planned for this year
for the coming years what do you see
Dimes blowing up in the future
talk to us yes so um right now we're
working toward season three so season
two we had a pretty good season what's
the number one overall or the number two
team in the league and so right now
we're just working towards season three
I'm trying to bring home a championship
to Dallas as far as my personal brand
dimes
working well and get them having my own
on women's and males just and the last
thing I guess I would say is just trying
to learn more about more of the business
side of what I do because gaming
obviously won't last forever but I want
to stay in the field of gaming so in the
eSports field but so I'm like sitting in
on extra meetings learning you know the
sponsorship side the business side like
just the social media side because
there's so many different aspects and
what I do is not just you don't just
have to be a professional gamer you can
be a content creator you could be a
photographer there's different new so
there's time to learn everything about
every little thing there is to know it's
amazing
now jobs you know we have a lot of
middle school students in the room and
at one point in your life you were a
middle school student and he was you've
achieved so many things I'm gonna
challenge you to look back to your
middle school self young dogs little
dyes and and and what would you say to
little dimes in middle school to inspire
him to keep him pushing forward and
maybe some inspirations these young
Scott scholars and stars can take with
him into this next semester and in this
next week so what would you say the
little dimes about success and about
dreams and about work well it won't be
your advice to yourself um number one
thing is you know and I heard someone
else say it earlier it's just that
anything is possible
and that really is true like I said I
went for this and I had like nothing
like literally I had nothing come might
not even have food that day so I went
for this and I went for with my all and
I think that goes with whatever it is
you're doing life just go for it and if
there was something I could tell myself
before it would be that you know this
isn't it just because your life is here
right now doesn't mean it has to stay
here there's a there's a higher there's
a there's something more it doesn't just
have to be that I had never been under
Cleveland in my life you know the next
thing I know I fly to New Orleans
I'm flying to Dallas I'm flying to New
York you know to do and me and just do
all different types of things so this is
an a go for whatever it is you want to
do in life learn everything there is to
know about it and they go for it with
the odd that'd be you know what I would
tell you guys and my old self can you
please make a lot of noise for Mavs Mavs
Rockstar dimes thank you
give it up for dimes y'all
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