As a Brooklyn-born son of mixed African and Irish roots, I watched St. John Bosco High crush Shanghai’s youth team—not with talent, but with thunder. McBride dropped 27 points. Harrington carved 20. Tian Hao, our Chinese starter, played his heart out on two bare feet. This wasn’t luck. It was grit. I’ve seen kids like him turn arenas into temples of struggle. You don’t need a scholarship to rise—you need courage in the paint.