This story seems in SLAM 252. Get your copy now.
Rising up the youngest of 4 siblings, Nate Ament did every part his brothers did. It’s why with regards 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 sport.
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 faculty. After a two-minute stroll, Nate and his brothers have been on the blacktop, assembly up with Nate’s classmates and Frederick’s associates from highschool. The battles have been enjoyable, but it surely was satisfaction that Nate was searching for, even in center faculty.
“The half that I fell in love with was with the ability to play a sport the place you may take somebody 1-on-1 and you’ll attempt to beat them, not simply offensively however defensively,” Nate says. “Having the ability to have a matchup is with the ability to say, I’m gonna guard you the entire sport. I’m gonna cease you from scoring on me. I’m gonna ensure that my crew wins. So, I actually fell in love with the competitiveness of it.”
Seven years later, that may, love and dedication serves as the muse of Nate’s sport, a sport 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 plenty 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 Faculty, it’s straightforward to categorise Ament as the trendy 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 sport.
“From once I first began enjoying basketball to now, I knew that you simply simply must be constant, all the time getting within the health club. In something I did, I simply knew that I wished to be the very best,” Nate says. “I simply stored it constant. I knew that I had the capabilities to be top-of-the-line within the nation. However for me, it was simply necessary 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 Instances Sq. to the gold medal podium on the FIBA AmeriCup with the U18 USA Group. 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 Basic Vol. 6. Whereas he netted contested jumpers and rose as much as meet the rim quite a lot of occasions whereas enjoying on the Rucker Park, reminiscences from his days on the blacktop resurfaced. He wished to get the very best of his matchup, similar to his brothers.
“They attempt to be the very best at every part they’ll do, whether or not that’s sports activities, whether or not that’s faculty, life or something. I strive to try this with basketball as properly,” he says. “They’re type of my motivation. I play onerous for them. Not only for my brothers, however for my entire household, simply to be sure that I’m representing the identify on the again of my jersey in one of the simplest ways doable.”
Portraits by Marcus Stevens.