One extremely important activity outside of the classroom that has helped me grow as an individual is Church League basketball at my local YMCA. From the outside looking in this league seems to be a form of glorified pick-up basketball with referees and a scoreboard but there is so much more to it. Almost half way through my junior year my father convinced me to try out for the varsity basketball team at school in November to which I hesitated at first but later gave in and tried out only to be cut. At first I was upset because I had never been cut from a team and I was unsure of how to handle it and what to do with my free time. This prompted me to reach out to God and ask him for a sense of direction and purpose in this time of my life to which He responded with a friend inviting me to Church League basketball. Once I experienced a few scrimmages and practices I decided to commit to playing Church League and coming to all of …show more content…
All of these things combined together are key roles in what helped me grow and gain confidence throughout the remainder of my junior year. Unfortunately, my team lost that year in the championship game, but now about ten months later Church League season is back. Since this is the last year I am able to play I decided to set some goals to not only motivate the team and myself but to try and recreate the growth I found spiritually and as a leader in the past season. Some of these goals include getting everyone on the team involved (especially new guys), being vocal on and off the court, get to know each player on my team individually, leading a few prayers before games, and last but not least winning the championship at the end of the season. With all of the success the team previously had the bar is set high for us to do just as well and my own individual bar is set high to make the most out of this