The Lewis Chronicles: Part 2

Jamal Lewis, Sidwell Friends student athlete

Lewis discusses Sidwell Friends and his decision to attend that highly regarded institution.

December 20, 2010 - Hello everyone and welcome to my diary! These past couple weeks have been stressful with teachers trying to squeeze in all their tests and papers before we leave for winter break. But this last stretch is always the most important because it’s good to finish on a good note. Overall I think I’ve done pretty well this first semester but we’ll see when I get my report card after break.

These last few weeks have also been really exciting because of all the basketball I’ve played. We are now 5-1 and this has been the best start since I’ve been at Sidwell and I am enjoying every minute of it. My team has been working really hard in practices getting better individually and collectively and it has shown with wins vs. Takoma Academy, Palotti, Bell, the Potomac School, and Mckinley, who are very good teams. Our only loss came in our first game against a really good Landon team. Our next game is this Saturday vs. Georgetown prep at 3:00 and hopefully we can keep this streak alive.

Jamal Lewis is proof that to be good, you have to work.

One question that many people have asked me is why I decided to stay at Sidwell instead of going to a basketball powerhouse school in the WCAC. In going to one of those schools, I would’ve developed into a good player by playing against traditionally the best competion in the area, but I believe staying at Sidwell has made me a better player too. Instead of going to one of these schools and possibly being a role player for one or two years before becoming an intricate part of the team, I have had the opportunity to be the starter at Sidwell since my freshman year. I have been put in a lot of tough situations relatively early in my high school career and this has forced me to learn how to lead a team through both the good and the bad. I have been able to learn from my own mistakes instead of learning from other people and I believe the experience in playing varsity will help me this year in trying to lead my team to another MAC Championship.

At this point in my high school career, I believe I am a lot better prepared to lead a college team than I would be if I had only played 2 years of high-school basketball. Also many high school players, aspiring to play at the next level, are afraid that college coaches would not see them if they don’t go to a typical basketball powerhouse like a WCAC school. I believed that if I were good enough, college coaches would recognize it and find me. My coach, Eric Singletary, has also been a big help with all the connections he has with coaches that recruited him while he was in high school.

All of this made the basketball part of my decision appealing, but the deciding factor was definitely the people. Sidwell was a good fit for me socially and academically, and I knew that. So many people transfer to schools that are only good for them in one aspect, and then they end up not liking the school and wanting to transfer again. It’s not that a WCAC school wouldn’t have been a good fit for me but I decided not to take that chance since I already had a good situation and a unique opportunity at Sidwell.

Thanks for reading my second diary entry and be sure to look for the next one two weeks from now, when I write about our Christmas tourney in Ft. Lauderdale!