Which best describes the speed of the ball as it is thrown straight up into the air and comes back down

Assuming that up is the positive direction, the velocity of the ball goes from it's initial and approaches zero, which it reaches at the apex of it's height. After peaking, the velocity is now reaching the same numbers it had on the way up, only with a negative value this time. If it had a velocity of 5m/s upon leaving the hand, it will have a velocity of - 5m/s when it came back to the hand.