Summary Of The Last Shot By Darcy Frey

486 Words2 Pages

Throughout The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams, Russell Thomas has shown again and again that he is a restless, ambitious person willing to do whatever it takes to reach his goal of getting a job as a nurse. This biography was written by Darcy Frey in 1991, showcasing the lives of four students from Lincoln High School who tried to make it out of the neglected Coney Island through basketball. Frey talked about the struggles of living in a community where violence was common, and where success was elusive for many. As a result of the problems of the deficient education system, family conflicts, and the adversities of college signings, basketball seemed like the only way to get out of poverty and despair, especially for people like Thomas. When Frey spots Thomas watching his friend Tchaka play …show more content…

In addition, it also showed that Thomas trained constantly down at the “Garden,” which is a basketball court in Coney Island. Thomas literally spent hours working and practicing in the Garden all by himself, which showed how serious he took basketball. It showed that he was willing to constantly do taxing work as long as he could get better and eventually leave Coney Island so he would be able to pursue his dreams. In order to do that, Thomas also put the rest of his free time into preparing for the SATs, to further ensure his future. For instance, Frey has watched “Russell [climb] out of [his] car with his omnipresent stack of SAT review books under his arm.” (Frey, 172) Russell is often seen with a stack of review books with him because he has decided to focus his last year at Lincoln High School mainly on getting good grades on the SATs, so he could finally achieve his goals. Russell wants to go to a Division 1 college, making it a requirement for him to score at least a 700 on his SATs. Reflecting on the poverty in Coney Island, the only way Thomas could go to such a college would've been