Established basketball player Jay Henderson has been working toward a successful basketball career his entire life. For the 6’6”, 190 pound three-pointer god, sports and especially basketball has always been part of his life.
Jay started playing basketball at 3 years old where he grew up in Orlando, Florida. He also played football though at the same time. There came a moment at 10 years old when he was on his way to football practice. He remembers telling his dad he doesn’t want to play football anymore, he just wanted to focus on basketball. He knew this was the sport he loved to play and that he had the tools to get to where he wanted to be by focusing on one sport. ‘I’m gonna hone in everything I have and perfect myself for this sport,’ he thought to himself.
The ultimate dream of playing in the NBA was always in the back of his mind as he went to workout in the weight room and on court training sessions. Physical therapy was also a point of focus to make sure his body stayed at peak performance status to play the best he can. It was important for Jay to “just be able to focus”. He also honed in on himself to ignore the nay- sayers, people doubting him, or even when things wouldn’t go his way. He knew if he truly concentrated on getting 1% better every day he would reach his goals.
In high school he won back-to-back state championships his junior and senior years. He didn’t just love it, he was great at it.
I called him the three-pointer god after learning more about his experience with basketball growing up. His basketball trainer Ryan Buhain is a Filipino-American skilled trainer for pros with his company 2Hands Basketball, and working with highly skilled players like Jay to make them the best of the best. He had an amazing story to tell about Jay:
“One of my favorite training moments with Jay was when he hit 57 NBA 3-pointers in a row. We were not at all expecting him to hit that many in a row. Making 15-20-40-60-79-up , he just kept going up to over 117 in one session. In this drill, the ball comes in right after the next, it is not slow pace. You’re getting into that flow and knock down shot after shot. Our whole team was definitely excited because he went above and beyond; he pushed himself.”
So he continued on to St. John’s University and transferred to the University of Louisville after his first year of college. After his third year of college he was ready to transfer again until he realized this was a golden time to prepare for playing professionally. Jay’s ultimate dream was to play in the NBA.
Jay was invited to spend the NBA summer league with the Indiana Pacers and this experience was life changing. After playing in the summer league he earned a spot with the Miami Heat G- league affiliate Sioux Falls Skyforce.
This year he’s playing for Oklahoma City Thunder G-league affiliate OKC Blue. “It’s been a long journey to get into those positions,” he told me. He also mentioned that he had to pay for the try- outs he’s done and worked his way into the national leagues all by himself. “Every team has local tryouts in the city; anyone can pay, workout, and if they’re really interested in you they’ll invite you to their training camp. For both teams I made it as a local tryout player.
I asked him what’s been his favorite part about playing.
Jay replied, “Traveling. Basketball has brought me to so many different places that I would never dream of going, and I’ve even ended up in different countries. I enjoy networking with different people of different personalities and backgrounds.”
Make no mistake, Jay knows how to kill it on the court as the shooting guard. “I’m a very good shooter. I model myself, my game after the all time greats 3 point shooters. I study a lot of film on Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson. At this point, I feel like I could shoot with them at the same level or even better. With my trainer Ryan Buhain I made 57 NBA 3- pointers in a row and without missing 2 in a row I got to 117.”
I was curious what he does to prepare for a game. Before a game he’ll watch film about the team he’s preparing to play against. In regards to body preparation he will only eat a light meal, stretch, and when they arrive at the arena he’ll put on his favorite music and get a shooting workout in. Mentally he stays to himself, doesn’t talk too much, just concentrates on the upcoming game.
It doesn’t stop once the game is over. Afterwards, he’ll watch video footage of the game to see what he can improve on, and review team goals to figure out how they can do better as a whole. He emphasized again the importance of physical therapy, “taking care of your body afterwards is important and getting rest is a crucial part of recovering.
What advice do you have?
“To anyone that has big aspirations to play professionally, keep going for your goals, keep striving, and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t,” he says. “Reaching those goals might seem too far fetched but at the end of the day it’s not. When you’re fully committed and this is what you want, you have to do everything you can to get there. When it’s all said and done, at least you know you did everything possible to get to that level, instead of looking back and having ‘maybe’s’ or ‘what if’s’. There’s always opportunities and anything can happen at the end of the day. Just keep going and keep going, keep working and putting the time in, and anything can happen.”
Jay Henderson is truly an inspiration and I can’t wait to see how his basketball career continues to blossom.
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