Mentor by Cierra Chastain

I wanted to share this as our players are making an amazing impact not only on the court but in life every day. Her article is below.

"Mentors are essential to help develop leadership with the future leaders of tomorrow. Joe Crawford, my basketball coach from Sports City University, is one person who has impacted my life both on and off the court. Joe and his wife Kim are the parents of five beautiful daughters. On occasion, he will bring at least one of his five daughters to help during practice. When coach Joe shows up for practice he is always decked out in SCU gear, shirt tucked in and chewing double bubble gum. He coaches by asking the players questions; and by knowing each player’s strengths and weaknesses he tries to build us to reach our greatest potential. With making God the center of his life, his passion is to share the word of God to others. Basketball is his opportunity to do just that.

Extreme Camp was a week of intense athletic drills focusing on mental and physical strength. Coach Joe offered our team a steal of a deal that we could not refuse for a week of camp in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Only four of us took him up on the offer. As I climbed the stairs to the third floor of a camping store/warehouse, I asked myself, “What has he gotten me into?” The warehouse was dark, the cement floor was musty, and I began to wonder if this place was going to have air conditioning. Opening the door to the campsite, I was relieved to feel cool air. I pitched my tent and was ready for a challenging week.

Every night, Coach Joe was one of the devotional leaders. This was one of the most memorable times of the day. I would start my day at 7:00 a.m. and would not return to the indoor campsite until 11:00 p.m. My body was physically tired, blisters covered my feet yet my spirit stayed strong because of the lessons on leadership, attitude and how to set goals. One question he always encouraged us to ask ourselves was, “Am I Ready?” He would ask us, “Will you be ready to go in the game when your coach is ready for you? Will you be ready to make the final free throw to win the game? Will you be ready to lead the team on and off the court?” Coach Joe showed us how we could go back to our high school and be ready to make a positive impact on our team. I now believed I was ready for this challenge after surviving the physical and emotional exhaustion of the week.

“Am I Ready?” is the question he set before me. As I prepare for my second year of high school basketball, I tell myself, “I Am Ready.” Coach Joe, through his positive leadership, makes me want to be a good example to others both on and off of the court. He continually amazes me and finds ways to show his players that a relationship with the Lord is the purpose of life. The first annual awards banquet ended with his senior girls receiving a copy of The Holy Bible rather than a trophy. This makes me have a different perspective about the game of basketball. This sport provides more than an opportunity to play the game of basketball and win a trophy but allows me to let God work through my life so I can influence others in a positive way. I Am Ready!"

The Other Side of the Fence

Everyone knows the timeless cliché, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." I know in my own life, I've found that to be true more often than not in so many areas, from changing jobs to changing boyfriends to changing basketball teams. Speaking of basketball, the trend these days seems to be that people are constantly searching for "greener pastures." Who are these people doing the searching? Well, for the most part, it's the parents. Who can fault them really? They are each simply in search of the "Holy Grail" of basketball for their own child. Each player will pasture, if you will, with one team for a length of time, but as soon as another coach comes along and spreads a little "fertilizer" the parents are ready to pack up and jump fence.

The question, then, is what is it parents are truly looking for in a youth basketball program? Success? What is it about one program that is so attractive and makes a parent want to pasture elsewhere? Why do other parents feel that same program is a step above? Is it that we are all just color blind and we can't really tell how green the grass actually is? Maybe that's it . . .

Regardless of the actual answer, what we are finding more and more of lately is that the most important component among the masses is to play on a "winning" team. "Winning," to the majority, means the team's actual win – loss record. It means by how many points did your team beat the other team? . . . However, a great man named John Wooden once said, "Although I wanted my players to work to win, I tried to convince them they had always won when they had done their best." I believe the message that we send each young athlete is important – You HAVE won because you have given your best effort. Coach Wooden also believed that "success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming."

The players that "team hop" because their W column has a smaller number than their L column may never truly know success because they have spent their entire youth career looking for the greener grass and never finding the program that pushed them to become the "best (they) were capable of becoming." I never fully understood all of the clichés my parents used on me, but I AM always careful about comparing my grass to someone else's.

Toby Harbin