JESS “big sister” RIEPE ..has a recipe for SUCESS

October 11, 2018October 11, 2018| Tiny GreenTiny Green| 0 Comment| 2:26 pm

 

Today I am writing about truth. Today, I am taking about looking in the mirror and being honest with yourself. In this case, I’m talking about basketball and taking real stock of one’s game. So often players pretend and those around them pretend along. They tell little white lies. They think kids cannot handle truth and by not giving them truth, they hurt their development. They make it harder for that kid to fulfill there dreams. JESS RIEPE right now is only interested in truth….BECAUSE SHE HAS BIG DREAMS AHEAD OF HER.

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Today we are so afraid to let kids fail. We are so afraid to tell kids you didn’t do enough. For some reason we feel every kid has to be made to feel important or successful. We live in the trophy generation, where every kid is a champion and a winner. The problem is, that this is not always true. In sports there are winners and losers. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. JESS RIEPE is already a big winner because she is taking on the challenge of being her best version of herself. She is not dumbing things down to fit her narrative as a basketball player…she is willing to fail. . She is going though the fire and knows she will come out on the other side better, one way or other. She is betting on herself and believes in putting her best foot forward and letting the chips fall where they may….for this reason alone, SHE HAS ALREADY SUCCEEDED.

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Before NBS starts in the fall, I shoot on the weekends with kids. Sometimes in the park or if it rains indoors. I don’t make these shooting sessions public. So when Jess RIEPE showed up one morning at Hoop Group, she caught me off guard. We take 1200 shots and shoot for about two hours. I had seen Jess around, I felt she was a nice kid who liked basketball. I didn’t view her as a hardcore baller. I thought of her as just another kid who believed she worked hard but truly had no idea. Since that day at the Hoop Group I have seen a lot of JESS RIEPE. But when she walked into the gym at NBS weeks later, my jaw dropped. I never in a million years thought this was the environment she was looking for. I thought Jess was another kid fooling themselves about what real competition and high level training was, while ducking the killers. You know go some place where everything is your world…all peaches and cream. I see it all the time with kids who convince themselves they are excelling or challenging themselves. I thought to myself that day, this is not going to end well. I have seen the girls who come to NBS and disappear. I have heard all the excuses why they leave and never return. They don’t want to admit other players are better or get more attention. They don’t want to admit they feel like 2nd class citizens at times. But more than anything else they can’t handle the pressure the is heaped upon them…JESS RIEPE from day one said bring it on and hasn’t stop saying that yet.

 

The first day of NBS Jess RIEPE showed me what real toughness looks like. I watched, as I knew she would struggle her first day. All the new drills others have been doing for years. I knew the pace of play would be new for her. I knew the competition level was a major jump. What I didn’t know was Jess RIEPE wasn’t walking away or backing down from no one. I was hoping she would come back the next day to NBS, but to be truthful I wasn’t sure. She didn’t get the love other kids  got. She didn’t get the attention other kids got. She wasn’t with the so called top groups. Yet there she was the next day. One of the first players in the gym. She was like a Gladiator, waiting to see who her matchup would be against. You see Jess RIEPE wants it and she wants it bad. She wants to show you that she doesn’t run from competition. She wants to prove she can play with anyone and reputation be dammed….she lets her playing speak for itself! Jess RIEPE is willing to work her way to the top…she doesn’t need handouts or white lies about her ability.

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Jess RIEPE comes to afternoon shooting after Volleyball practice. She comes before Volleyball practice. If it rains she runs to the gym to get extra shooting in. When she had a stiff neck at NBS she still practiced while in pain. I feel Jess RIEPE has a vision and goals she wants to reach. She doesn’t want to pretend everything is fine, she knows there is work to do and she is more than willing to do the work. I have seen her at Basketball Warehouse(her true mentors)putting in work and trying to get better at every turn. Jess RIEPE, doesn’t care about ego and all the nonsense and hype that goes with it. Right now she is laser focused and simply trying to out work the world. But doing so in the real basketball world, the competitive one. The world where no promises are made. She is proven to herself she belongs with the killers…she too plans to be a killer one day soon.

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I call Jess the “the big sister” or the “recipe” because truthfully I just like her so much. I love kids who want to get better. I love good kids who are full of themselve.  She is a Sophmore at Marlboro High School and plays AAU with  incredibly underrated and talented jersey shore elite team. The same team that knocked off the 2021 Shoreshots last spring. There something about Jess that makes you happy to see her. I watch her mix with her peers and it’s a beautiful thing to see. She has a good nature and work ethic that you don’t teach. I know Jess RIEPE is going to have a great season this year. I know in time she is going to be special and be a name many will know. I know she will never stop working and it’s why one day….ALL HER GOALS WILL BE ACHIEVED. This going to end up being a great story before Jess plays her last game….trust me it’s going to be a GREAT RIDE TO WATCH …RIGHT TO THE FINISH

 

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