October 26th, 2015 | Uncategorized
I haven’t been to church in a while but this past Sunday I found myself at mass, seated beside my teammates. I would like to say that we decided to go together, to grow as a team or for the experience itself on the chilly October morning. But our attendance was prompted by a much more solemn occasion; the mass was to the celebrate the life of one of our teammate’s father who had recently passed. I won’t go into any further detail here out of respect to their privacy except to say the service was lovely and that during which time Father Barry said something that resonated quite strongly with me. As he gestured toward us, huddled together, he said, “This is why we play basketball, to be a part of a community bigger than ourselves”. He’s absolutely right.
But that’s easy to forget during pre-season when you’re all dog-tired. It’s easy to forget when you’re boarding the bus for another away game. It’s even easy to forget when you are winning because ‘staying on top’ becomes the focus. But it’s moments like those where we remember to put the X’s and O’s aside–because there’s more to life than wins and losses– and to love every teammate, every coach like the family that we are, while we can.
Victory Scholar: Marritta Gillcrease
Present University: NUI Galway
US League: MAAC
Club/Community Partner: Galway Titans
Alma Mater: Rider University
Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland
