Well, I am sure you’ve noticed by now that Jake did not keep up with the blogging world, and has abandoned his blog. I don’t blame him….he’s a busy guy and blogging is a lot of work. So, I decided to start posting his ‘thought for the week’ on our family blog again. I know many of you Kingdom Hoops Team Sullivan readers already get the TFTW in your inbox, but this will give a chance for the others to get in on it too. And, I’ve really been missing having the TFTW recorded on here, because someday when I get around to it, I am going to print my blog as a book for a keepsake, and it will be nice to have all of our thoughts in order by date, all in one place. B/c we’ve been traveling to tournaments on the weekends, it seems like it will be better to post it on Tuesdays, because he normally gets it emailed out with the announcements on Monday evenings. Sound good? Welcome back Jakey. Here it is for this week:
There are days I ask myself what is greatness? Is greatness defined by how many wins you record as a team? Is it defined by trophies that surround a facility? Is it defined by fully reaching ones potential? Over and over in my mind each week I try to define greatness within the Kingdom Hoops program. Many times this past 18 months I have tried to find a definition to measure greatness amongst our program and for our athletes. As my definition constantly has changed I have always been brought to the basic foundation for greatness in the Kingdom Hoops program and it is this: Are we maximizing the platform God has given us? Are we doing everything in our ability to increase what we have been given?
I believe this definition fully defines greatness within the Kingdom Hoops program. But I often struggle with the basic concept of what exactly it means. I know for me I too often wrap this loose definition around success on the basketball court. Did we win or did we lose? Of course I caught myself doing it again this weekend. The Kingdom Hoops 17s had just lost a heartbreaker in the first round of the championship bracket as Team Impact hit a three as the buzzer sounded and knocked us out of the tournament.
After the game I was frustrated and disappointed and was going over a million different things we could have done to put the team in a place to win that game. As I was pouting I headed over to court 4 in the Fieldhouse USA facility to watch our 17U red team play in the opening round of the bronze bracket. As I arrived my mood did not get much better as I watched the red team fall behind 23-12 to All Dream Sports out of Houston. With four minutes left in the first half I was becoming more frustrated with our lack of enthusiasm in the game and now my pouting became more like sulking in my personal pity.
Then God reminded me, like he so often does, of what defines greatness for us as an organization. The bleachers across from the team bench began to fill up. It was not filling up with your normal spectators such as parents and other family members. It soon began to fill up with Kingdom Hoops players. As we fell behind 23-12 it all began. After a spirited time out down 11 points I heard some boys’ begin cheering, stomping, clapping, hooting, and hollering. As halftime approached we cut their lead to four and the players in the stands continued to get more excited as the game went on. What was most amazing to me was that the players who were leading the ruckus in the stands were the 17U boys who had just gotten beat. Kingdom Hoops Red went on to win the game 50-34 and I saw 30+ boys as excited for the red team as if they had won themselves.
Sometimes in the craziest of times God has a way of reminding us what is important. To us, God’s greatness within the Kingdom Hoops program will be measured every day by situations like this. It will be measured by the impact we get to have on the young lives in our program each and every day. And, even more importantly, it will be measured by the lasting impact our players will leave on each others’ lives.
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