Senior point guard Michael Cole wasn’t always the star scorer who could carry his team to victory.

Although Cole was on the Redwood Middle School basketball team for three years, he was mainly a bench warmer.

“The only reason I played was because in middle school everybody had to go in for a couple of minutes,” Cole said. “I had the desire to get better and I worked really hard to improve.”

Standing a little over 6 feet and known for his quickness, Cole has long admired Golden State Warrior guard Stephen Curry, a point guard who shares familiar physical characteristics.

Cole has especially admired Curry’s work ethic and constant desire to improve.

Although Curry attended Davidson College, a small school in North Carolina, he put in the work to become one of the best players at the college level and even in the pros.

“[Curry’s work ethic] teaches you to be tougher, which helped instill into me a work ethic to also do well in school,” Cole said.

Cole has spent thousands of hours on the basketball court to improve his game. From waking up at 5 to practice in the gym to coming to school for weight training, Cole has taken himself from middle school bench warmer to high school star.

“[Basketball] has taught me to be confident with who I am, and how I play,” Cole said. “Confidence that the ball is going to go in when you shoot is the first key to being a good shooter, because if you aren't sure or not when you shoot [the ball], then the ball's not gonna drop through the net.”