Harsh Realities: Overcoming Obstacles in The Last Shot

 

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Darcy Frey tells a story that needs to be told in his book, “The Last Shot,”which recounts the lives of young basketball players in Coney Island, Brooklyn and the dangers they confront on and off the court.

           

    Many great talents from Coney Island never had the chance to reach their full potential and play college ball, and those who get far enough to face college recruitment are extremely vulnerable to coaches and companies who use the players for their own benefit. 

    

    These high school athletes must deal with the pressures of the game along with trying to resist the temptations that come with basketball fame.  Frey followed players who have put everything on the line for their basketball careers and often fear they will not make it into a good college. 

    For over two years, Frey followed players at Lincoln High School who have the potential to play Division I college ball. But these students have many more adversities to face than the average student athlete.  

    The main players Frey focuses on are Stephon Marbury, Corey Johnson, Russell Thomas, and TchakaShipp, all seniors at Lincoln who share the same dream: to play college ball and move away from their current homes. 

    Filled with quotes throughout the book, Frey’s journalism skills present the reader with a vivid depiction of where the players are coming from and their individual personalities.         

    The media attention, pressure from coaches and the college recruitment process can be brutal. Russell, who sometimes breaks down from all the pressure, attempted to take his own life at one point. 

            The players want desperately to escape their Coney Island neighborhood. The drugs and crime in Coney Island have presented a large gateway that many young Coney Island residents get involved with at an early age.  The book describes the daily precautions that people must take in these neighborhoods to avoid danger, and that sometimes people join the danger instead of actually escaping it. 

Schipp desperately wants to escape his life in Coney Island, and once literally had to escape from a gang who shot at him for the pair of sneakers he was wearing.  Frey explains how in Coney Island, sports are often the only way the kids can progress towards higher education and a career.

           The in depth reporting in this book reveals to the reader the complex circumstances that these athletes face routinely.  With the lives of these young, aspiring players being described over a long period of time, Frey sends a message to readers that society embraces young black men trying to escape their past life; because they want to get to the next step so badly the college recruitment process can manipulate them without thinking twice about it. 

The harsh reality displayed in this book is that society lets black men from neighborhoods like Coney Island almost be forced to turn to athletics in order to escape, and colleges, companies, and corporations can all use their talent to make loads of cash.