When you come from celebrity parents, who went through a hard time in the industry and most people know your family’s life story, it can get very difficult and sometimes depressing. My dad’s Kenny Anderson and my mom’s Tami Roman but I want people to look at me as my own individual and to not judge me off of whom my parents are. It was very hard for me growing up, especially in elementary school because I never had any true friends. Kids only hung out with me because of who my parents were, but never because they liked me for me. Yes, you could say I was “popular”, but I often ask myself, was it because they liked me, Jazz Anderson? As I aged though and recently graduated, I no longer suffer from that because I made a name for myself by playing basketball for my school and getting good grades.
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I am no longer looked at as “Kenny and Tami’s daughter”, but now, “Jazz Anderson who’s smart and good at basketball”. When it comes to the game of basketball, I’m always analyzed when I step on the court, because everybody’s wondering if I’m going to be as good as my dad was. Now, he’s looked at highly by many people so I have a long way to go before I get to his level haha, but at the moment, most people who have seen me play consider me a prodigy. I’m also a point guard as my father was and I’ve been told that I have great ball- handling skills, like my father did also, but I don’t want to play as my father did, I want to be better!
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Even though the WNBA isn’t looked at as much as the NBA, if I’m blessed to make it, I’ll definitely give it my all because being in the Hall Of Fame is what I’m reaching for. So even though most judge me off of how my father played, I tune them out, because even though he was great, I’m not trying to play as he did, I’m working and striving to play better. When I’m not on the court, I deal with relationships with my friends and boys also. As I said before, at this point, I have friends that like me for me but sometimes jealousy can get in the way because they’ve seen me on the internet or even on television and most kids don’t like to see their peers succeed to a higher level than them, especially girls.
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So, I’ve learned to just remember that jealousy’s going to be around anywhere you go, so no need to get depressed or feel down, but instead, live with it and let it be your fuel for why you get up everyday and work so hard.
If there are not problems with my friends, it’s with boys. At this age, I don’t think that there is such thing as “love”. I’ve been told by a boy that he was “in love” with me, but I think that he was more infatuated, so sadly, I don’t take any mushy things a boy may say to me at this age, but I stay at a friend level with them, especially since I’m trying to pursue my career, distractions aren’t needed.
Now that school’s out, I’m dedicating all of my time to my music! The type of direction that I want to go in is a mix of R&B and Hip- Hop. As a female, I do
