February 13th, 2016 | Uncategorized
It turns out that I have a lot of connections in Ireland. In the beginning of my Victory Scholar journey I didn’t know anyone in Ireland except for the Sport Changes Life team and I hoped to meet new people throughout my stay in Ireland but what I didn’t know was that the Sport Changes Life team would become my family and that I would always have the feeling of family around me. It is now the middle of February and I have found more connections than I could ever have hoped for. It seems like almost every week I find a new link between my life here and my life back in America.
For example, in January, I went to visit my former NC State teammate, Scott Wood, in Spain. He plays professionally there in a city called Murcia. When I got back to Ireland, I was telling one of my UL Wolves teammates about my trip and he goes, “Wait did you say Murcia? I’m from Murcia!” Scott is in his 3rd season in Murcia and my UL Wolves teammate said he would go to Scott’s games all the time last year.
Another example is last week I was talking to my UL Eagles teammate about his year playing Prep School basketball in America. He was telling me about some of the big name players he played against and he mentioned the name Malik Abu. I immediately sparked up and told him that Malik was my teammate last year at NC State! He had never put two and two together and we were amazed about how small of a basketball world it felt like.
These are just two recent examples of the basketball connections that I’ve found but there are plenty of more connections that I could have written about. It is awesome to see how the game of basketball forms relationships all around the world and how it can bring people closer together and make the world feel like a smaller space. Life is full of surprises.
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Victory Scholar: Staats Battle
Present University: University of Limerick
US League: ACC
Club/Community Partner: UL Eagles
Alma Mater: North Carolina State University
Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland
