Soundtrack to greatness: Imhotep’s Ahmad Nowell finds an edge through morning practices

The gym was nearly silent. The faint hum of electricity powered the lights overhead.

Hot air whirring from vents indicated the season was still winter. A yawn suggested the early morning hour.

Sneakers squeaked. A basketball bounced. The net swished.

Together, all of those sounds coalesced like a symphony of the soundtrack to greatness.

Those were the sights and sounds I noticed in 2019, the first time I followed former Neumann Goretti point guard Diamond Johnson, the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2018, during one of her early morning workouts at a YMCA in Roxborough.

Coincidentally, current Imhotep senior guard Ahmad Nowell, who will play men’s basketball at UConn next year, was about a year away from starting his own morning workout before school with his mentor and father-figure Tasheed Carr, a former St. Joseph’s guard.

At around the same time, Malvern Prep senior Ryan Williams, who will play at Northeastern next year, and his father, James, also started morning workouts at a YMCA in Phoenixville before school.

Those three players, who separately dedicated themselves to the pursuit of greatness, are the inspiration that turned the ambient sounds from one of Nowell’s morning sessions at Imhotep into a rhythmic beat.

By 2019, Johnson, a senior at the time, had already been an early bird for years, working out with her brother-in-law Milton Rodwell before school began.

» READ MORE: Guard Ryan Williams is Malvern Prep’s self-made rising star

They did this nearly every day — even on game days.

In March that year, I filmed one such workout.

Then later that day, I drove to Hamburg, Pa. — about 80 miles from Neumann Goretti — and watched Johnson and the Saints slaughter District 4′s Warrior Run, 69-16, in the second round of the girls’ PIAA Class 3A playoffs. The Saints eventually lost in the next round.

» READ MORE: Imhotep’s Ahmad Nowell finds motivation in missing the McDonald’s All American cut

Johnson was electric. She had 13 points in the first quarter.

You wouldn’t have known the game was her second workout that day.

Unfortunately, health issues stopped me from executing the idea that Johnson had sparked.

I wanted to take all of the ambient sounds from her workout and turn it into a beat similar to the classic Nike freestyle commercial from the early 2000s.

» READ MORE: Former Philly hoops star Diamond Johnson is thriving at Norfolk State

But instead of sneaker promotion, I wanted to focus on the dedication, the discipline, and the passion it took to rise that early nearly every day in pursuit of greatness.

To me, that’s when greatness truly occurs: inside empty gyms, where there’s nothing but silence, a ball, and the desire to be great.

It can be easy to forget how hard young athletes work, some while navigating difficult situations at home or trying desperately to avoid gun violence in the city, while simultaneously trying to earn college athletic scholarships they hope will change their lives.

» READ MORE: Imhotep boys’ basketball dedicates its state title run to the late Dayemen Taylor: ‘Do it for Dame’

Johnson has since become a stellar college player, first at Rutgers, where she was second-team all-Big Ten as a freshman, and then at North Carolina State, and now at Norfolk State, which earned a trip to the NCAA tournament this year.

Nowell will end his Imhotep career in Friday’s Class 5A championship game when the Panthers meet District 7′s Franklin Regional at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Williams ended his career at Malvern earlier this season after winning two Inter-Ac championships and leading the league in scoring as a sophomore and junior.