Basketball can be a gateway to a variety of opportunities. This is a fact American guard Colin Smalls is intimately familiar with as he has broadened his horizons beyond the court while honing his skills on it.

It has been a learning experience for Smalls over the years where lessons have been instilled in him since a young age in Prince George’s County in Maryland. The journey to where he is now did not come lightly, nor without a tireless dedication to honing his craft.

While his father was deployed in Saudi Arabia when Smalls was young, his grandfather was instrumental in shaping Smalls’ early indoctrination on the court, taking Smalls to a court near Arundel High School. Once his father returned from deployment, Smalls translated those early lessons to organized basketball through rec leagues, playing a variety of roles for his teams.

By the time he was nearing middle school, Smalls continued to challenge himself on his own time. He would play in parks near him against older and bigger kids, playing against middle and high school players.

“Playing with them, I was getting roughed up, but learning the game, for the most part, and learning how to be physical, see what I could get away with and being crafty as a smaller kid playing with bigger kids,” Smalls said.

“You can do all the drills you want, but if you’re playing, you’re really getting a lot of experience so that when you step in the lines on a real court under a whistle, it makes a lot of things much easier.”

During his time at James Madison Middle School, Smalls knew he could take his play to a higher level. His coach at the school, Clifford Taylor, would show Smalls highlights of other high school guards from the area like Melo Trimble, Markelle Fultz and Anthony Cowan, and tell him he could play with them.

“I think that middle school was when I knew I could play at an NCAA level,” Smalls said.

These lessons and support shown to Smalls have not been forgotten, and the service work he did in high school continued to build that foundation. His work with The Boardroom under Kevin Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures while he was at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, and playing in Durant’s DC AAU program, only further cemented his path forward on and off the court.

As he has gotten older, the lessons he has learned have also allowed Smalls to change his view of what basketball can be for him and the doors it may open beyond the court. Majoring in business administration with a specialization in entrepreneurship, Smalls has his eyes on the future while already working on business plans.

His recruitment to American was the next opportunity he earned. With Sa’eed Nelson graduating, the door was open for him to earn playing time immediately as long as he continued to progressively develop.

While an early injury hampered his ability to get on the court his freshman season, Smalls started 31 games for the Eagles as a sophomore, averaging 10.7 points per game to go with 34 steals, 64 assists and 82 rebounds. As a junior, he emphatically showed his effectiveness as he upped his three-point attempts from 28% to 37.5%, hit 80% of his shots from the free-throw line, and still averaged 8.6 points in 23 games played.

However, coming to American also meant Smalls would remain close to home with Prince George’s County still in his backyard. It has allowed his family and friends to actively support him as his parents come to every local game and his grandparents attend as many as they can. It has allowed his same friends since third grade to come to games, and coaches and others that have aided in his personal development to witness the fruits of Smalls’ efforts.

It has also provided Smalls an opportunity to remain tied into his community and go home as much as he can. On these trips home, particularly in the summer, Smalls gives back and provides an example to younger players on their way up. He gives words of encouragement and tells the next generation of players what it’s like to play at the Division I level while emphasizing that it is a lesson in patience and in understanding the game you surround yourself with.

“You’re not going to like what everyone says, a lot of people can have a lot of things to say and you’re not going to like everything that everyone has to say,” Smalls said. “But you can take bits and pieces of what people say and incorporate it into your approach to the game or how you play."
 

Smalls talks to players from high school and middle school. He plays pickup with the middle schoolers at Upper Marlboro Community Center, Patuxent Community Center and Westphalia Community Center.

He just wants to give back. He wants to make younger players understand that it’s not going to be one workout a day. Sometimes it will be two, three workouts a day. It takes sacrifice and hard work, and a “sponge” to as much basketball as you can.

“There’s kids in places that don’t have the opportunity to play against a Division I basketball player,” Smalls said. “So just letting them see that I came from Prince George’s County and I’m coming back to play with them, it gives me a sense of joy that I can put a smile on these younger players’ faces and give them an example that they can see they can get to this level.”

It’s this selflessness that embodies Smalls’ on-court leadership and his commitment to his teammates. His refusal to be backed down or stopped from giving everything he has in order to help them win is his creed.