Generally when you think about a successful basketball player the first thing that comes to most of our minds is height, "Oh if he's good at basketball he must be tall, right?"
How about a freshman who's 5 foot 10 inches tall and 150lbs, that kid must have a difficult time on the court.
Meet Brody Robinson. He's a freshman point guard for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's men's basketball team, he's originally from Houston, TX. He's been consistently meeting and exceeding challenges on the basketball court since he was a kid as he was always one of the smallest players on the court, and respect wasn't something that was always given to him.
"I felt like I always had to prove myself, I've always been smaller than what the usual people were (players) and I felt like I always had to do more and put in the extra work more than anyone else."
Basketball is also predominately an African American driven sport where Brody is a white kid but being one of the few white kids to play on a lot of the teams, he's played for isn't something that ever bothered him.
"I feel like color never really mattered to me; I never really saw it. I felt like if you could play basketball and you could hoop, you could be a really good teammate to me." Robinson continued, "I never thought about what color or what race or whatever you were, it never bothered me, it never affected me. I grew up around every type of person you could think of, and it's special to be on the court with a bunch of different people. I love basketball and basketball brings together a lot of different types of people, people that come from different journeys and stories."
To Brody it's all about playing the game and coming together to achieve a common goal of growing as individuals and as a team, to improve every single day and to ultimately win.
Robinson wasn't getting very many looks or offers while he was in high school, but he knew he was good enough and wanted to play division one basketball.
Now, how did he end up at Chattanooga?
Well, with the new coaching staff coming in this season and Honor Huff having to sit out a year as an undergraduate transfer into UTC, that opened the door for the Mocs to keep their eyes peeled for another young guard to help round out their roster.
"It was a very long process... I played my full senior year with no offers; I had a little interest with a couple of schools that were texting me but just never pulled the trigger to offer me, so I decided to reclassify and go to the Phelps School which is in Philadelphia. So, I had another year to play AAU Basketball and that's when I began playing for the (Houston) Defenders."
He went onto say how much he loved playing for that organization with the Houston Defenders and how much that coaching staff aided in his growth, development, and confidence as a person and as a player.
Coming into his freshman year there wasn't playing time that was guaranteed as he was behind a senior in Dalvin White and a junior in Khristion Courseault. Injuries to both of those players opened the door for Robinson to make his first collegiate start on Tuesday, December 6th at home against a good Milwaukee team and he did not disappoint.
During that game against Milwaukee, Robinson recorded six points, six assists, was a pest on defense with two steals, and provided a spark for this team whenever the ball was in his hands. The Mocs won that game 88-76 and last weekend in a game against Johnson University he got 30 more minutes of playing time while producing a career-high 14 points and six rebounds. He also contributed three more assists and three more steals in the convincing 97-47 win.
Brody Robinson has dealt with adversity his entire life and that's what makes him ready for the challenge in front of him today, continuing to prove to this Chattanooga coaching staff/his teammates that he should be on the court, competing, and doing what he loves which is playing basketball.
Check out the full conversation with Robinson from earlier in the week on The Word With G: spotify.com/episode/5Fwa2zL0Y7Lb7UgWfGERA9