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 in relation 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 select 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 associates from highschool. The battles had been enjoyable, however it was pleasure that Nate was looking for, even in center college.
“The half that I fell in love with was having the ability to play a sport the place you’ll be able to take somebody 1-on-1 and you may attempt to beat them, not simply offensively however defensively,” Nate says. “Having 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 ensure that 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 muse 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 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 College, it’s straightforward to categorise Ament as the fashionable NBA archetype. He’s a prolonged 6-9 ahead who’s constantly 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 simply simply should be constant, all the time getting within the gymnasium. In something I did, I simply knew that I wished to be the perfect,” Nate says. “I simply saved it constant. I knew that I had the capabilities to be probably the greatest 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 totally 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 Staff. And to cap off a summer time pushed by years of dedication to his craft, he took house the Terrence Clarke Spalding MVP Award and the dub on the SLAM Summer season Traditional Vol. 6. Whereas he netted contested jumpers and rose as much as meet the rim various occasions whereas taking part in on the Rucker Park, reminiscences from his days on the blacktop resurfaced. He wished to get the perfect of his matchup, similar to his brothers.
“They attempt to be the perfect at every little thing they will do, whether or not that’s sports activities, whether or not that’s college, life or something. I attempt to do this with basketball as effectively,” he says. “They’re sort of my motivation. I play onerous for them. Not only for my brothers, however for my complete 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.
