Every athlete's goals include winning and hitting big milestones. One Golden Gate basketball player can now take the weight off his shoulders after adding a huge accomplishment to his resume.
"It's something we knew was coming," said Golden Gate head basketball coach Guy Hensley. "I made him take a few pictures before the season, like Wilt Chamberlain's 100. So I did it with the 1,000."
Well, you obviously can't take a picture like that and not make it come true.
"Hitting '1K'...it's just always been a goal of mine before entering high school," said Golden Gate guard Sam Powell.
Joining the "1,000-Point Club" is a huge feat for high school basketball players. And Sam Powell can take a sigh of relief. He did it... halfway through his junior year.
"It's like, it's just honoring to just, because there's a lot of big names that hit it and yeah, it's just it's just a great feeling."
"It's impressive because most of the time, when you see people hit a thousand points early senior year mid-senior year," said Hensley. "But he's already done it midway through his junior year. Just shows you his consistency and how much he was developing over the years. Just practicing and our practice is not going to get you to a thousand points. So it just shows you the work ethic he has off the court to get in the gym on his own and get to get shots off, his ball handling and get his skills right."
Heading into the annual Holiday Hoopfest at Bishop Verot over winter break, Powell was just 38 points short of the '1K' mark. And in the Titans' second game in the tournament, his dream came true.
"Everything was going in," Powell said. "I just felt it, and I just knew I had to just keep going."
Powell scored his 1,000th point, had a career-night scoring 42 points, and helped the Titans secure the 73-69 win over Ferguson (Miami).
"He knew the objective, but coming into the game, he knew he wanted to win first," said Hensley. "He hit the three to force it to overtime and then took care of it from there."
"My coach got a ball for me that was specially designed, and I just celebrated with my team," said Powell.
Checking that off his bucket list, he knows exactly what he has his eye on next. A big one would be breaking the Golden Gate career scoring record -- 1,514 points, currently held by JD Woods from 2007.
"When we have home games, I like to just look up and see because there's a lot of great people that came through Golden Gate," said Powell. "So just like being on that list is just an honor. So it's just like striving to get to that goal every game."
And also helping lead his team to success along the way.
"He's just a great kid," said Hensley. "I'm excited to see what his future holds."