Growing up, Charles Michael was never the best basketball player among his peers. He was just an average player that was always willing to give 100% effort. During his freshman year in school, his father left the family and moved to Chicago. Michael was deeply hurt and angered by this and used basketball as an outlet to let out all his frustrations. His single mother did not have much money during these times as Michael remembers going to one of his good friend's house all the time to hang out and eat with their family. Michael's friend's mom, Linda Womack, always made sure he was well fed.
During the summer after Michael's freshman year in high school, he was given a scholarship to attend one of the best basketball cams in the country - 5 Star Basketball Camp. Because of their financial situation, Michael's high school coach's father, Gary Hall Sr., paid for Michael to attend the camp. At the camp, Michael was surrounded by some of the best basketball players in the country. Although he wasn't even close to being as good as them, he was determined to learn and work on his game. He strived to become better. At the end of the camp, every player was given a set of drills to take home and practice.
The following Monday, Coach Hall opened the gym for players to come and work on their game. That day, only Michael and his teammate Jerimiah Johnson showed up. With Jeremiah on one side of the court and Michael on the other, they both worked on the drills they received at the 5 Star Basketball Camp. During this time, Coach Hall walked over to him in between one of the drills he was doing and told him, "Michael, you're going to receive a full scholarship to play basketball in college." From that moment, Charles Michael's life changed forever.
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Michael went from being hurt, angry, and frustrated that his dad left their family to being determined and focused on earning a full scholarship to college. Before that moment, Michael never thought he would be able to go to college because he didn't think his mother could afford it. Michael's coach had set a high expectation for Michael's life and in return, Michael developed positive self-expectations.
During Michael's sophomore year he played on the Varsity Basketball Team at Herndon High School. At first, he was nervous, thinking it would be better if he stayed with his class and played on the JV Team, but his coach just told him, "Just try it out and if you don't like it, you can play on the JV Team." During Michael's first game, his coach advised him: "All I want you to do is rebound and run the floor from rim to rim in a straight line as fast as you can." Michael did what he said and the first game he played, Michael scored 16 points. After the game, he told his coach, "I want to stay in Varsity!"
Charles Michael ended up making a number of All-Star Teams throughout high school, and played in the Suburban All-Star Game before the Capital Classic in Washington, DC. He received his full scholarship to college, attended Elon University, and started on the basketball team for 4 straight years. Charles Michael was Defensive Player of the Year at Elon for 3 out of those 4 years, averaging about 12 points a game. He was a defensive stopper - always guarding the opposing team's best player.
After College, Michael realized his passion was helping the youth, adults, and organizations around him to become successful - helping them to be winners in life. Michael does this by building individual self-esteem, character, and social emotional learning skills. Michael tells his students, both youth and adults: "A winner is determined by the content of a person or team's character. If you have good character, you win, if you have bad character, you lose."