Most little boys have dreams of becoming a professional athlete when they grow up, but often, their dreams are just that.
"Even when I was little they were like man you're too little to be a basketball player," Matthew Addison recalls.
In 2011, I got a chance to meet the confident, and animated, athlete.
Standing at 5'8" and coming from a division-three school, Addison told me after he graduated from Hardin-Simmons University, he would go to a professional league. With that kind of big talk coming from such a little guy, you are bound to have some naysayers.
He adds, "But then you look at what I've done and how I helped contribute to Hardin-Simmons."
Addison has won several awards and accolades, including third-leading scorer in the nation.
He attributes his hard work and dedication as what got him to where he is, and now what once was a dream, has turned into a reality.
"This is not just a hobby for me no more. This is my lifestyle, this is my job and I've got to do it if I want to succeed," Addison explains.
Addison will be playing for the Cangrejeros de Santurce in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
He tells me the thought of playing for the team that produced NBA players like J.J. Barea and Carlos Arroyo is exciting, and he hopes his story will help inspire other young people to pursue their dreams no matter what lies ahead of them.
He tells youth, "Stay dedicated, motivated, be persistent and understand it's not going to be an easy road. It's going to be hard. You're going to have bumps, you're going to have bruises and the whole nine. But you've just got to keep on going and going until you fulfill your dream."
"Even when I was little they were like man you're too little to be a basketball player," Matthew Addison recalls.
In 2011, I got a chance to meet the confident, and animated, athlete.
Standing at 5'8" and coming from a division-three school, Addison told me after he graduated from Hardin-Simmons University, he would go to a professional league. With that kind of big talk coming from such a little guy, you are bound to have some naysayers.
He adds, "But then you look at what I've done and how I helped contribute to Hardin-Simmons."
Addison has won several awards and accolades, including third-leading scorer in the nation.
He attributes his hard work and dedication as what got him to where he is, and now what once was a dream, has turned into a reality.
"This is not just a hobby for me no more. This is my lifestyle, this is my job and I've got to do it if I want to succeed," Addison explains.
Addison will be playing for the Cangrejeros de Santurce in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
He tells me the thought of playing for the team that produced NBA players like J.J. Barea and Carlos Arroyo is exciting, and he hopes his story will help inspire other young people to pursue their dreams no matter what lies ahead of them.
He tells youth, "Stay dedicated, motivated, be persistent and understand it's not going to be an easy road. It's going to be hard. You're going to have bumps, you're going to have bruises and the whole nine. But you've just got to keep on going and going until you fulfill your dream."
