kamoshika
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Superb piece by Mike Wilson of the KNS:
Zakai Zeigler listened for the keys. The metallic call sent Zeigler scrambling from a seat to the train car bathroom on the Long Island Rail Road. The ticketless teenager locked the door and hid, staring out a small hole by the door handle. He listened until the jangle of the conductor's keys faded and he could return to a seat unnoticed. “Once they went past, you were good,” Zeigler said. “I did that for months.”
Zeigler was a sophomore in high school when he committed to a four-hour roundtrip from Wyandanch, New York, to Montclair, New Jersey, to play basketball for Immaculate Conception. He boarded the train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station at Brentwood at 6:18 a.m. He switched trains at Penn Station to get to New Jersey, then walked the remaining blocks to school. He got home when he could and how he could, skirting rules in the name of basketball when he didn’t have ticket money. “I looked at what the end goal was and knew what I wanted to do in the long run,” Zeigler said. “I said, ‘I know this is going to bother me right now, but in the end this is going to help me.’”
Zeigler got to Tennessee with that get-it-done mindset. He is a 5-foot-9 bundle of energy, forged by a humble upbringing and an innate confidence that supercharges his fearless skill set.
Zakai Zeigler: Overlooked recruit to Tennessee basketball sparkplug
Zakai Zeigler listened for the keys. The metallic call sent Zeigler scrambling from a seat to the train car bathroom on the Long Island Rail Road. The ticketless teenager locked the door and hid, staring out a small hole by the door handle. He listened until the jangle of the conductor's keys faded and he could return to a seat unnoticed. “Once they went past, you were good,” Zeigler said. “I did that for months.”
Zeigler was a sophomore in high school when he committed to a four-hour roundtrip from Wyandanch, New York, to Montclair, New Jersey, to play basketball for Immaculate Conception. He boarded the train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station at Brentwood at 6:18 a.m. He switched trains at Penn Station to get to New Jersey, then walked the remaining blocks to school. He got home when he could and how he could, skirting rules in the name of basketball when he didn’t have ticket money. “I looked at what the end goal was and knew what I wanted to do in the long run,” Zeigler said. “I said, ‘I know this is going to bother me right now, but in the end this is going to help me.’”
Zeigler got to Tennessee with that get-it-done mindset. He is a 5-foot-9 bundle of energy, forged by a humble upbringing and an innate confidence that supercharges his fearless skill set.
Zakai Zeigler: Overlooked recruit to Tennessee basketball sparkplug
