Austin Smith on Basketball, Adversity, Friendship, and the Journey to Becoming a Young Author

Ross: You have a unique journey through college athletics. Can you please share a brief overview of your journey so people can understand what you overcame?

Austin: My journey has been truly unique. In high school, I was a talented basketball player and received several Division I offers from my sophomore through senior years. However, during the summer before my junior year, I broke my ankle just before the live recruiting period. After that injury, I felt lost, and many of the scholarship opportunities I had worked toward disappeared.

I had to pivot and find a Division III school that genuinely wanted me and where I felt I could thrive. Throughout that process, I relied heavily on the values my parents had instilled in me: work hard, remain passionate, and overcome whatever obstacles are placed in front of you.

College athletics became one of the biggest challenges I had faced. I often felt like things weren't going my way and that I was constantly fighting an uphill battle. But those experiences made me more persistent. They taught me to be prepared for anything and to believe I could figure things out, even when I didn't immediately know the answer.

I leaned on myself, my parents, and my friends to navigate those challenges. If I had to summarize my college-athletic experience in one phrase, it would be: “Figure it out.” Every day, I had to apply myself and determine what I wanted to do next.

Basketball was also an incredible outlet for me. Having teammates who value you, support you, and look out for you is incredibly important. We all need a support system. No one can successfully navigate life completely alone.

I am originally from Memphis, Tennessee, but I moved around while growing up, including to Arkansas and the Virginia area, because my father was in the military. Those moves and the sacrifices my family made helped me build resilience and become the person I am today. My parents consistently encouraged me to become a better man and, above all, someone others could count on.

Ross: What were the biggest life lessons you learned through athletics?

Austin: One of the biggest life lessons I learned through athletics is not to get too high or too low. When things are going well, do not let success go to your head. When things are difficult, do not allow those challenges to consume you.

To me, that means controlling what you can control. I learned in school that I needed to be more mindful of my self-talk and the way I viewed myself. Every day is different. New obstacles will arise, new opportunities will present themselves, and you have to be willing to pivot and prepare for whatever comes next.

Preparation became a major part of my life. I wanted to be prepared not only as an athlete and student, but also as a person—someone who could carry a conversation, connect with others, and build meaningful relationships. I learned to ask myself, “How can I help you build what you are trying to build, and how can I help myself continue to grow?”

Athletics teaches those same lessons. Basketball is such a fast-paced game that you have to develop a short memory. You cannot dwell on the previous play because you immediately have to focus on the next one. I believe having a short memory is one of the most underrated skills we can develop in life. You cannot spend too much time dwelling on things you cannot control or on situations that are not going well, because circumstances can change quickly.

At the same time, everyone handles situations differently. There is no single response that works for every circumstance. Life is nuanced and constantly changing, so we have to learn how to adapt.

Ross: How did your real-life experiences help you create this book?

Austin: My real-life experiences played a major role in helping me create this book. Much of the story comes from my own experiences with adversity and low self-esteem.

When I was a freshman in college, I broke my foot, and it was extremely difficult to deal with. I was told that I might never play basketball again. I saw three or four doctors, but no one could determine exactly what was happening. After living with the pain for nearly a year, I finally had foot surgery.

During that period of trial and uncertainty, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what my next steps would be. I was not ready to give up basketball or leave school, even though there were conversations around me about whether I should do exactly that. I felt lost and knew that I needed something to push me forward.

Rise Up Ronnie is ultimately a story about finding yourself and recognizing the importance of having friends who can help you get through difficult situations. Friendship is one of the most important values we can have. Having people in your life who are dependable—people who will answer the call, respond to the text, and stand by you—is incredibly meaningful.

My own experiences also gave me a way to express some of the things I had been carrying with me. I knew what it felt like to try out for teams, question whether I was good enough, and desperately want to prove to myself that I could succeed.

That is why Ronnie represents so much of me. Ronnie is a kid who simply wants to figure things out. Through conversations with his friends and family, he learns that he is stronger than he realizes.

One of the biggest messages I hope readers take away from this book is the power of encouragement.

Ross: If someone were considering buying your book, what would you tell them?

Austin: If someone is considering buying my book, I would tell them that this story is for everyone. It includes friendship, family, sports, injury, perseverance, courage, and personal growth. Those are all important elements, especially in a children's book.

At its heart, this is a story about friendship and perseverance. It is about having the courage to stand up for yourself when things go wrong and being able to say, “I am not going to let this defeat me because I believe in myself.”

Readers will see the importance of believing in yourself, having the willingness to improve, and remaining open to learning. I do not have all the answers. I am still a young man—I am only 23 years old—and I have a great deal left to learn.

That humility is actually part of why I believe this book can connect with so many people. I did not write it as though I had all the answers. I wrote it because I am still looking for answers myself. I want readers to understand that this story, this life, is never truly finished. I may be 45 or 50 years old one day and still be saying, “I need to figure it out.”

Life does not stop when you get older. It keeps moving, and we continue to learn.

I also believe children—especially Black children—need to see themselves represented in books, literature, television, and entertainment. Black kids, and Black boys in particular, deserve to see themselves reflected in stories that encourage them to believe in what is possible.

If I could give young readers one message, it would simply be: You can do it. I wish more people had told me that when I was younger. That is the message I want to share through this book—a story about life, friendship, perseverance, and caring for one another.

Ross: What inspired you to become an author at such a young age?

Austin: My inspiration for becoming an author at such a young age came primarily from my own experiences, my family, and the people who influenced me throughout my life.

I was not an avid children's book reader growing up. I had books that I enjoyed, but reading children's books was not something I did extensively. My inspiration came more from watching my little cousins and nephews grow up and figure out life, observing my sisters, and reflecting on my own upbringing.

My community and the coaches I had also played a significant role. I had many coaches who instilled in me the importance of becoming a well-rounded person and a great young man. They taught me that being successful was about more than basketball, academics, or any single area of life. I was a student-athlete for a reason. I wanted to develop as a complete person.

My faith was also a major source of inspiration. I believe the Lord gave me the courage, strength, and knowledge to believe that I could write this book and share it with others.

My father also encouraged me to become an author. He and my mother were adamant that I should write because they believed I had a gift that needed to be shared with the world. At first, I did not necessarily see myself as a writer or believe that I had a gift for reaching people through words.

But as I continued writing and became more invested in the process, something changed. I began to feel that this was my calling and that writing was something I was meant to do.

Ross: How has the master’s program you are in differed from your undergraduate experience?

Austin: The master's program is very different from undergraduate school because it offers much more freedom and independence. In a master's program, you may have only one or two classes each week, which means you are responsible for managing much of the rest of your time.

I see it as a balance between being fully independent and still having the structure and support of school. At the same time, you begin to understand how education can be used as a tool for networking, building relationships, and preparing for a career.

Another major difference for me is that I moved to a new city. I moved to Boston, a place I had never lived before, and I am experiencing new things every day. Honestly, I would not want it any other way.

Undergraduate school can feel like being in a smaller, more contained environment. You are on campus, surrounded by familiar people and routines, and over four years you develop a rhythm that becomes comfortable.

A master's program opens you up to more opportunities, spaces, people, and career paths. You are also often moving to a new city and learning how to navigate a different environment.

Having just graduated from undergraduate school, I can clearly see the difference. In undergrad, I generally knew what to expect each day. I knew where I would be, where I would sleep, and what my routine looked like. Graduate school requires you to figure out more things on the fly.

Because master's programs are often only two years, you also have less time to establish yourself, build relationships, and create a new routine. That makes the experience challenging, but also exciting.

Ross: What advice would you give to your younger self?

Austin: I would tell my younger self to stop worrying so much.

When I was younger, I wanted to control everything—the narrative, how things happened, why they happened, and what the outcome would be. I tended to overthink because I wanted to control every aspect of my life.

I would tell my younger self to slow down.

By that, I mean take one day at a time and appreciate each moment while you are living it. I remember being eight, nine, and ten years old and wanting to grow up so quickly. I wanted to become older and experience everything that came with adulthood.

Now that I have grown up, I realize that I would have benefited from appreciating my childhood more. I would tell my younger self to embrace being young—to appreciate the innocence, the simplicity, and the freedom of not having so many responsibilities.

Once you enter the real world, you have bills to pay and responsibilities to manage. You have to become someone others can depend on. I have talked a lot about dependability throughout this interview, and I think that lesson applies here as well.

I would also tell myself to stop worrying so much about how other people will respond. People are going to make their own choices, and you cannot control how they react to everything you do.

The only thing you can control is what you give to people and how you choose to show up.

Most importantly, I would tell myself, “It is going to be okay.” Even when things do not go your way, it is not the end of the world. You have time to fix things, learn from them, and make them better.

Ross: Which children’s book impacted you the most growing up?

Austin: Honestly, I do not have one children's book that I would point to as the book that impacted me the most.

When I was younger, I enjoyed reading works by Mike Lupica, who wrote sports stories involving basketball, football, soccer, and other sports. Those stories were a source of information and entertainment for me.

However, I did not have a specific book that served as a blueprint for the book I eventually wrote. There was not one book I kept referring to and thinking, “This is what I want to create.”

I did not really have a blueprint. I simply felt that I needed to approach the story in my own way and tell it from my own perspective.

That is ultimately what I did. I created the story in a way that felt authentic to me and to the experiences and messages I wanted to share.

Thank you for reading!

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