There is much to be excited about this time of year, and possibly no player has more to be amped up about than Maniya Custis. The talented floor general was selected an All State player as a junior in 2019. .Thedribbledrop & NJHoopRecruit are honored to introduce Maniya as one of our diarists in 2020. Check back throughout the season as Maniya gives us an insider look at the life of a star student athlete playing basketball on the highest level in New Jersey.
As told to Christian Mordi / @mordi_thecomeup
Hello everyone! My name is Maniya and I am a guard for Trenton Catholic. I will be checking in with you guys twice a month to share my journey throughout my senior season!
This summer I committed to UCF. They came in heavy in the early summer months and I committed in August. I committed to UCF because the staff was so genuine. They were honest in their talks after every game on telling me what I did right and wrong and how I could fix things. They were very passionate about me as many other programs kept it light and general. The campus is beautiful. The team is very nice. They are a group of people I would like to be around. I committed early because I felt like it was something I needed to finalize. I didn’t want that to carry over into the season. I wanted to get the scholarship in the bag and focus on winning a championship.
Our first couple of practices were interesting. We have a transfer in Aaliyah Rosario. We were super impressed with her size, speed and skills. We were all very excited from the door. We only had like one big last year, this year we have a couple players with size and I don’t think anyone is slowing us down in the paint.
Our scrimmages went really well. Our first one was against Hudson Catholic. We did really good on that one. One of the people that stood out for us was a freshman named Zoe Brooks. We did a good job of finding our way in that one. We have a couple of new people that can score the ball and we are finding a way to make it all work for everyone. The next one was against St. Rose. The focus was on continuing to gel as a team. They were led by Brynn Farrell who is a pretty good player.
A player that has stood out to me on our roster a lot early on is Zoe. She is a freshman but she has this level of toughness that I like a lot. She can really get buckets. Aaliyah has also been impressive as well. She’s been great down low.
One key player on our team is Gigi Boulden. She’s very important. She’s probably the most versatile player on our team. She can play 1 to 4. She’s great at each position and guard any position.
Next up we have a couple big games that i'm looking forward to. I’m also 32 points away from 1,000. I’m very excited about breaking that mark. (Editor’s note: Maniya broke the 1,000 point mark against Franklin.)
On another note, I like to listen to music. My favorite artist is Partynextdoor. I love his music. I also like to make Dubsmashes on my freetime.
Til’ next time,
Maniya
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