As reported by Bleacher Report back in 2014, while most fifth graders in Rockford, Illinois were deep asleep, ten-year-old Fred VanVleet — draped by a 30-pound weighted vest — was running full-court scrimmages against his older brother. His day would start at 5:30 A.M, roughly three hours before meeting his classmates for school. It was a rigorous schedule, but one that VanVleet’s caregiver — Joe Danforth — insisted was necessary. He would tell Fred, “You're not going to be average. Anyone can be average. You’re going to be somebody.”
VanVleet’s Biological father was killed in a drug deal when Fred was just five.