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Remember when your sport was just fun? No stress, no ranking spot on the line, no pressure from internal or external sources... just pure and natural fun.
In today's episode, I sit down with Sion James, whose name you may recognize as part of the starting five from this past season's Duke men's basketball team. Sion helped lead the team to an overall 35 wins to 4 losses on the season, an Atlantic Coast Conference Title, a #1 ranking spot in the AP top 25 men’s basketball poll, AND a place in the NCAA Tournament Final Four.
Just this month he graduated with his masters degree and is now preparing for the 2025 NBA draft.
Sion's successful career thus far has not been one without the stressors and pressures of any other elite-level athlete. However, it's his mindset and his approach to those things that truly makes him so refreshing. He often reminds himself to take a step back and remember why he started playing basketball in the first place: because it's fun. It sounds so simple, but as any competitive athlete knows, at times it's anything but.
By growing himself outside of the court through his academics and most notably through his community service efforts, he has become secure in himself as a human, thus making it easier for him to separate who he is as a person from his results on the court. When he does feel any self-doubt or anxiety build, he takes it back to the basics, and prioritizes actions over feelings. He reminds himself to just keep showing up and doing the work, one foot forward, one at a time.
Piece by Piece:
00:00 Intro
03:55 Reflecting on the NBA Draft Combine
08:20 "My parents basically forced me to play"
11:12 How Sion handled the inevitable stress of the college recruiting process
19:03 Sion highlights his "just get to work" mentality + his parent's influence
22:30 Embracing the highs and the lows of college basketball
26:00 How community service put everything into perspective
30:50 How knowing his worth and his value affected his decision to play a 5th year of college basketball
34:08 "It truly never got old" - Sion on playing for Duke
37:06 Game time nerves + playing in front of 70,000 people during the NCAA final four
42:30 Taking away distractions + seeing the game for what it is
47:00 Sion shares his thoughts on Coach Scheyer calling him the "connector" on the team
48:55 Duke basketball traditions go CRAZY
52:08 Next steps before the NBA draft
53:57 Sion's message to his younger self
Episode Resources:
Sion James | Instagram
Sion James Foundation | Website
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