Fast Breaks with Michael Robinson

MICHAEL ROBINSON

Mike Robinson
New Britain, Connecticut

My hometown is New Britain, Connecticut. It is literally the center of Connecticut. There are not too many opportunities in New Britain, so I wanted to get away. I noticed I liked the heat, so Florida was my option and Miami was just – Miami. Self explanatory.

My family is fun. I love my family. There are a whole lot of comedians in my family, and everyone in my family is an athlete. My parents were athletes. Everyone played football. I had two uncles who played basketball and then football in college so they backed me up seeing that this is a football family. I love my family. They visit before the school year starts, every August.

I started playing basketball when I was five. My brother actually put the basketball in my hands. We had a little Fisher Price hoop in my house and my brother would keep telling me to try to make it. And then it soon got to the point where he said just keep trying to dunk the ball. That’s basically where I got my jumping ability from. My brother started it all. As far as watching basketball, my favorite team is the Lakers because when I was five it was the Shaq and Kobe era.

My high school is very diverse. It’s extremely big and I think it’s the biggest public high school in Connecticut. I don’t have a favorite subject, but I would probably say math since I’m good at it, so any type of math subjects, calculus, math, whatever type of math it was. The French teacher was probably my favorite teacher because she was always fun filled. She made learning fun. She loved basketball, so she would talk in French about basketball and it made us understand it a little bit better.

When I was younger I wanted to be an NBA player, of course. I just wanted to be famous. But then as I got older I started noticing that fame comes with a lot of extra tension. NBA dreams are still around, but I’m not just going to settle on it I have learned to focus on school first. I learned that in eighth grade, to focus on school first because you can get anywhere with it. It’s dependable.

The hardest part of being away from home is missing my Mom’s cooking.

Playing basketball has given me opportunities because basketball is basically a life lesson. Things you do on the court you can do in life. Say for instance you’re playing offense in basketball, you have to adjust to whatever the defense gives you in order to try and score the ball. Whereas in life, you have to adjust to what life gives you in order to be successful. It’s basically a life lesson type thing.

The University of Miami was my dream school and basketball did bring me here because of Coach L. He was the coach at George Mason, and he led them to the Final Four. I knew he had to be a great coach because no one had ever heard of that program until he came through. So when he came to Miami, I started watching Miami basketball. It was just a dream school of mine, then when I visited the campus it was a done deal. I had to come here.

When I played basketball growing up I pretended to be Kobe. He’s my favorite player, nothing else to say.

When I was introduced to Coach L it was different. It was instantly a comfortable meeting, but very professional. With Coach L it felt like business. We talked about basketball, then talked about life, and that was it. It was a different experience but I loved it.

I’m a Hurricane because I’ve always been a Hurricane. My high school is the Golden Hurricanes so I’m not going to be anything else besides a Hurricane.

The U is small but iconic and unforgettable. Ever since I’ve come here I’ve met a lot of people who are doing things with their life now. Basically if you go to The U you are getting out successful. I don’t have words for representing the U. It’s prideful to wear something that people recognize automatically, without any letters or definition for it, just the U symbol. People will know what it is. That’s the University of Miami. So this is something I take pride in and I’ll never turn that pride down.

The city of Coral Gables is extremely different than New Britain. It’s small and safe, quiet and a nice scene.

Playing for Coach L at Miami I’ve learned life lessons. He teaches life lessons every single day. We always start our meetings with life lessons. Whatever the game plan is that day he will do a life lesson on that game plan. Every meeting he talks about the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He talks to us about it every single day and we have 10 commitments that he posts every day during practice. It’s the same 10 every day, and the same seven habits. My favorite one is “prioritize your priorities.” So you have to put the first thing first, because if you try and start with the end, you’re going to knock yourself off track. You’re not going to be on pace for your ending result. Prioritize your priorities is always something that just stuck in my head with Coach L. He’s a teacher both on and off the court and I love that about him.

One thing everyone should know about UM hoops is that we always have fun. We’re brothers. We all know each other to a point where it’s all fun and games. It’s like we’re kids; Kids waking up on Christmas morning and come into the locker room. That’s basically how it feels.

My legacy… I hope people say that I will never stop working. I try not to think of anything as too hard. If I fail I’m going to keep going, try to succeed.

To be a Miami Hurricane means you get to represent something that not everybody can do. To be a Miami Hurricane means you had the ability to do something great.

Coach L is amazing. He’s a life teacher. He’s a professor on and off the court. He’s also fun in locker rooms. Those videos that you see, he does it all the time. Of course there’s serious moments because you always have to get serious with basketball, but all in all, he is very fun.

My favorite thing about the U family is that it will always be a family. If you went to the U in 1945 you’re still a part of the U family now, and we’ll keep welcoming members of the U family.

I’m closest on the team with Buka and DJ. We do everything together. We’re basically the closest one on the team.

Dunking feels amazing because first of all I’m 5’10” so it’s a longer journey for me up to that hoop. It’s like a shock factor. It feels like I’m flying through the air because sometimes I realize I actually got up there.

Making three pointers feels amazing and natural to me really. It’s what I like to do. I don’t really like to penetrate and go to the hole because then I have to adjust my shot in different forms because I have these 7-foot centers trying to block my shots.

If I wasn’t playing basketball I’d be a football player because I was corner and receiver in high school. As far as life, if I wasn’t playing basketball, I would just be a student getting straight A’s and trying to make the best opportunities for myself.

My first personal goal is to graduate with a cumulative 3.5 GPA. Then my goal is to land a job at a Fortune 500. That’s my end result goal, to land a Fortune 500 job in five years and then hopefully CFO. But that’s far from now and I have many steps to take – I have learned that from Coach L.

I never thought I would be a Miami Hurricane because it’s a hard thing to do. It’s a hard thing to get in here, it’s a hard thing to be affiliated with sports in here. I never thought I’d be able to continue the Hurricane legacy. But somehow I did it.

I secretly wish I could fly because there’s no traffic in the air and I could get places fast.

I like to draw. I’m mainly good at drawing the Nickelodeon characters.

My favorite holiday is Christmas. I don’t know who doesn’t love Christmas but I love it. I just love the tradition and of course the food and everything.

Becoming a man is a hard transition because you still want to think you’re young and free to do whatever but there’s a part of maturity to being a man.

After college I want to be living the American dream, to have a wife and kids. I love to travel so I’d like to go to Dubai.

*Mic drop*