Julian Levy found peace in the solidarity that basketball sometimes offered. Though it’s a team sport, he appreciated the fact that he could practice it by himself and took to it early in life. He tried other sports that his brothers played as well, such as swimming and football, but they didn’t stick.
Basketball did.
Now a junior studying to do social work at Florida State University, Levy is a former four-year starter for the Coral Glades varsity basketball team and referees the game he so fervently played.
Levy said basketball came naturally for him when he was younger and he was often the best player on his teams.
“I would say that my knowledge of the game came pretty naturally,” he said. “I feel like I just have a feel for the game that you can’t really teach, that was just kind of innate, as far as decision making.”
However, as he grew older, he said his frame didn’t necessarily match up with those of his teammates and competitors. Because of this, he had to work harder in the gym to still compete at a high level.
“Physically, I definitely had to grind,” Levy said.
With a full-time course load, he doesn’t have the time to play the game as often as he did in the past. However, he still relishes how freeing it was to work on his craft with no one watching.
“When I would work out alone, I wasn’t afraid of messing up and I feel like that’s a big thing,” he said. “When you’re working out with other people you might be afraid to try a dribble move because you might dribble it out of bounds and think, ‘Ahh these guys think I suck,’ or you might airball a shot you haven’t taken yet. But when you’re alone, there’s just no fear.”
He wasn’t always playing alone, though.
At Coral Glades, he etched his name into the record books as the school’s all-time leading scorer, cracking the 1,000-point mark in his senior year.
A few weeks after that milestone, Levy was celebrated by his school at Senior Night. But what he remembers more than screaming fans is the reaction of his mom.
“After they called my name and I walked out with my mom and my brothers and we went over to the other side of the court, just hugging my mom I burst out into tears which doesn’t usually happen often,” he said. “But just that moment, she didn’t even say anything, but I just felt how proud she was of me, like beyond basketball but especially with basketball, just like how hard I worked, how much I went through and how I just stayed the course and never gave up on it.”
He said she was always his biggest fan and prides himself in resembling her resilience in his play on the court and his approach to all things in life.
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