Junior Workshop Highlights

The inspiration: I was inspired by my own personal experience with basketball. I have a profound discipline [with my sport], and I wanted to know where that passion came from. I decided to do research on psychology and [the origins of] passion and work ethic.

The process: I focused on basketball in New York City because it’s very much a hub [for the sport]; I interviewed people from different backgrounds and areas of the city and talked to New York hoopers about how they started.

I originally wanted to do an hour-long documentary, but I realized I had to scale it down, so it became a documentary that’s about 20 minutes long. It starts with me talking about my experience with basketball, shows some of my workouts, my upbringing in athletics and in general. I sent out emails to people I wanted to interview and created interview questions. I was very intentional and workshopped [with my teachers] how to be ethical in asking interview questions. 

I had some experience making videos for group projects at school, but not really on this scale. I had to experiment as I learned—the best way for me to find out how to do something is to play around with it. 

What I learned: I learned how to handle adversity, how to be committed and disciplined with my vision. I learned about time management and being organized. Getting a larger sense of other people’s experiences was also very eye opening for me.

What's next: I really liked the interviewing and communication aspect of the project, as well as the filming and editing. I can see continuing with something like this beyond this particular documentary.