This story seems in SLAM 252. Get your copy now.
Rising up the youngest of 4 siblings, Nate Ament did every little thing his brothers did. It’s why relating to sports activities, soccer was the very first thing he gravitated to. His older brothers performed it, so he did, too. And when his third oldest brother Frederick began to choose up basketball, Nate was greater than recreation.
By the point he was 10, the quickly rising Manassas, VA, native realized that he was going to be too tall to remain on the pitch. So hoops it was. It began out as 1s and 2s on the native elementary college. After a two-minute stroll, Nate and his brothers had been on the blacktop, assembly up with Nate’s classmates and Frederick’s buddies from highschool. The battles had been enjoyable, but it surely was pleasure that Nate was searching for, even in center college.
“The half that I fell in love with was having the ability to play a sport the place you possibly can take somebody 1-on-1 and you may attempt to beat them, not simply offensively however defensively,” Nate says. “With the ability to have a matchup is having the ability to say, I’m gonna guard you the entire recreation. I’m gonna cease you from scoring on me. I’m gonna be sure my crew wins. So, I actually fell in love with the competitiveness of it.”
Seven years later, that may, love and willpower serves as the inspiration of Nate’s recreation, a recreation that has seen him blossom right into a consensus top-5 participant within the Class of 2025 and the No. 1 participant within the state of Virginia. Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UConn, Virginia and lots of, many others have stamped the five-star do-it-all wing as a future difference-maker for his or her squads.
Between the 3SSB circuit and his tape out at Highland Excessive College, it’s simple to categorise Ament as the fashionable NBA archetype. He’s a prolonged 6-9 ahead who’s repeatedly fine-tuning the framework of his three-level scoring. The locks on protection are there, too. Thoughts you, with a deal with and quickness to interrupt down defenders in transition and off the wing. Dimension-ups, step-back treys and low-post fades, it’s all his recreation.
“From after I first began taking part in basketball to now, I knew that you just simply must be constant, at all times getting within the fitness center. In something I did, I simply knew that I wished to be one of the best,” Nate says. “I simply saved it constant. I knew that I had the capabilities to be the most effective within the nation. However for me, it was simply essential to not rush issues and to remain affected person with my journey, as a result of my journey’s completely different than anybody else’s.”
As of late, the sport has taken him from the gleaming lights of Occasions Sq. to the gold medal podium on the FIBA AmeriCup with the U18 USA Crew. And to cap off a summer season pushed by years of dedication to his craft, he took residence the Terrence Clarke Spalding MVP Award and the dub on the SLAM Summer time Traditional Vol. 6. Whereas he netted contested jumpers and rose as much as meet the rim quite a lot of instances whereas taking part in on the Rucker Park, reminiscences from his days on the blacktop resurfaced. He wished to get one of the best of his matchup, identical to his brothers.
“They attempt to be one of the best at every little thing they will do, whether or not that’s sports activities, whether or not that’s college, life or something. I strive to do this with basketball as effectively,” he says. “They’re form of my motivation. I play onerous for them. Not only for my brothers, however for my entire household, simply to make it possible for I’m representing the identify on the again of my jersey in one of the best ways doable.”
Portraits by Marcus Stevens.
