I want to thank Jordan Starr for contributing to my basketball journey series. He is a point guard on my alma mater, The Master’s University Mustangs in Santa Clarita, California in the GSAC in NAIA DI. The Mustangs are coached by his father Kelvin. I was the team manager of the Mustangs from 2010-14 and I enjoy following the Mustangs. Jordan finished his junior season for The Master’s University. As a member of the Mustangs, Jordan has averaged 8.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.2 blocks while shooting 46.8% from the field, 34% from deep and 61.8% from the free throw line per game. He has scored 697 points, grabbed 395 rebounds, dished out 301 assists, had 54 steals, blocked 18 shots and made 71 threes. In each of his 3 seasons with the Mustangs, he has averaged at least 7.9 points per game, scored at least 137 points, grabbed at least 86 rebounds and dished out at least 62 assists. His game high in points is 20, his game high in rebounds is 13 and his game high in assists is 12.

In sharing his journey with me, Jordan wrote, “My journey to TMU was quite the turn of events. I had several D1 offers coming off of my sophomore season of high school, but in that summer my entire family moved from San Diego and ended up in Santa Clarita with my dad as the new head coach at TMU. My initial thought process had me thinking there was no way I would ever want to play for my dad. It didn’t intrigue me at all and I didn’t think it was a high enough level at first. As I spent my junior and senior years of high school around the program at TMU, hanging out with the guys traveling to games and even playing in open gyms during the summer I realized TMU was somewhere I wanted to be and I knew that was where I would have the most fun playing basketball. Long story short I committed and signed and I know it was the right choice. My favorite part of TMU is the culture of our program. There’s a desire for success in the locker room and everyone wants to be great. No one is satisfied with winning the GSAC. Of course we also want to win games and those tournaments, but until we win a National Championship I know that no one in the locker will be satisfied. That’s my favorite part because being in a locker where success is expected and demanded from each individual makes the game fun. I also love my teammates, they’re a great group of guys who are fun to be around and they make life on campus a lot better. The biggest improvement for me so far at TMU has just been the mental aspect of the game. I think I’ve been forced to grow up a lot as I’ve been put in a lot of big time and high level situations as a freshman this last year. It’s also been a big difference learning to play as the coaches son and the judgment that can come along with that. A lot of people seem to believe that the only reason I play is because my dad is the coach. So learning how to deal with that and the pressures of the game and learning to rise above all of the noise and drown it out was pretty important for me. The more comfortable I become the more I look forward to each practice and game at TMU.“