# @buzzcityhoopsqld on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DeWt7fyT4Zv
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/71690590-buzzcityhoopsqld-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/47099b8a83.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-10-11T13:05:28.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Carl Forbes (@buzzcityhoopsqld) — https://gondola.cc/buzzcityhoopsqld

## Caption

Who would I have become if I’d never picked up a basketball?

Maybe not this guy 😂 But where I grew up, it wasn’t far from reality.

Some see the coach, the career, the BMW or a basketball result and think they know me.

They don’t know my story.

I grew up surrounded by violence, drugs and crime. Fighting, stealing and being brought home by police were part of my childhood.

I remember lying across the doorway of a juvenile home, screaming as my mum tried to drag me inside, begging for another chance.

A Jamaican grandad. An Irish grandma. Relatives involved in crime. A single mum working five jobs to raise six children.

No carpet. A lock on the fridge because food had to last until tomorrow.

Every friend from those childhood years is now gone. Drugs and crime took their lives.

That could have been me.

At 13, my mum moved our entire family away from everything we knew to save her son.

My mum gave me another chance. Basketball taught me what to do with it.

Basketball taught me discipline, respect, accountability and resilience. That my choices mattered. That setbacks didn’t define me.

Those lessons shaped my career, my leadership and my life.

They’re why I coach.

When I’m up at 5:30am, I’m thinking about the kid who needs someone to believe in them. The one hiding their struggles behind anger, attitude or silence.

I WAS THAT KID.

Winning matters to me. Always has. But a 30-point victory doesn’t explain why I’m there.

It’s about what young athletes learn, how they handle adversity, support others and become people they can be proud of.

To those who judge, criticise or talk negatively about me because of basketball…

You only THINK you know me.

Your opinions don’t change my purpose.

When I say IT’S BIGGER THAN BASKETBALL, it’s not a fashionable hashtag.

It’s my LIFE.

My mum fought to give me a future. Basketball helped me build one.

Now I pay that forward, one young person at a time.

It’s bigger than basketball. MUCH BIGGER.

#nohashtags #justfacts #AIfun #messagesmatter

## Stats

- **Views:** 1,081
- **Likes:** 15
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 1

## Tags

justfacts, messagesmatter, aifun, nohashtags

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