This week my friends are heading over to Ireland from America. In preparation to them coming over I gave a couple of them a call to talk about things to pack and what to bring. As I ended the call with my one friend, he told me how excited he was to come out and visit and that I have given him “the opportunity of a lifetime”.
When I thought back, I could not help but realize that I have been able to give a number of people opportunities that might never been possible or sought after. Numerous of my family and friends have come over to visit and had the chance to travel all around the country of Ireland. Majority of these people, such as my mom, grandma, aunt and sister may have never come to Ireland for the rest of their lives. My mom had never even been out of the country before coming over to visit, and I doubt she had any plans to if I wasn’t out here. My grandma has traveled all around the globe, yet she was never in Ireland before this year. That is something that is unbelievable in my eyes and something that makes me very happy as I gave her a reason to come experience it. All in all, being out here in Ireland I have realized that I have given people the opportunity to travel the world and see amazing places.
With that being said, as much as I might be the reason for them coming out to Ireland, the main reason that all these things are possible in the first place is because of the SportChangesLife program. Without SportChangesLife I would have never had the chance to spend a year in Ireland. I would never have had the chance to be with my family in Ireland. I would have never had the chance to spend three weeks with my girlfriend in Ireland and experience an Irish Christmas and New Year. Most recently, I would never have this chance coming up to spend time with my best friends in Ireland.
Without SportChangesLife, I would not have had the chance to meet all the great people that I have, not only in Ireland but all the other scholars from around the United States. I have had the ability to spread my knowledge in the game of basketball, and teach life lessons to kids and others that were taught to me at such a young age. I have experienced a culture very different than that of the United States, and it has opened my mind completely.
SportChangesLife has impacted more than just myself. It has impacted my family, my friends, my girlfriend, and all those that I have come into contact with and built relationships with over the lasting months.
SportChangesLife has given countless amounts of people:
“The Opportunity of a Lifetime “
DB.
