Write a theme statement for Matt De La Pena’s "How to Transform an Everyday Ordinary Hoop Court…" Make sure it connects to the real world
Do not use specifics from the story, don’t use cliches, don’t give advice, don’t be obvious.
Follow one of the two templates
#1: "The central theme of (piece of writing) is ( the author's position on topic)."
#2: "In (piece of writing), (author) presents the idea that (position on topic)."
Find 2 quotes from the story to support your theme statement.

The central theme of "How to Transform an Everyday Ordinary Hoop Court into a place of higher learning and you at the podium" is that some people can achieve good academic results, but that does not mean that they have no more influential interests in their lives.

Explanation:

The author of the text speaks directly to the reader, including him in the presented story. In this story, the reader is an excellent student, who presents good academic results and who meets all expectations of teachers and parents, but has no interest in academic matters, but in the practice of sports. Sport is the real interest and motivation of the reader-character.

This can be perceived by the frequent use of the pronoun "you" where the narrator talks directly with the reader pointing out the reader's presence in the work.

The central theme of this text can be better presented with the following two quotations:

"Truth is  you're actually pretty smart [...] For people like you, ball is more than just ball. Is a way out."

"There are folks in this world who live to mark up a fat World History Textebook with an arsenal  of colored highlighters. You're not one of them."