I am fortunate enough to live in a city that is extremely passionate about basketball. We have an incredible fan base that supports us and has cheered us on all year long. We are also supported by many younger fans, some of which are even a part of the Neptune Club’s younger teams. This past week, we were able to host a camp for these local kids to help them further their basketball skills and spend time with members of the Neptune Team. Most of these kids were familiar faces that I knew from within the club, but a large portion of them I was meeting for the first time. The two-day camp involved boys and girls of all ages, and was a fantastic experience. The kids were passionate about learning and showed great improvement in their basketball skills over the short period of time. Spending time surrounded by the smiling faces of dozens of kids has a way of reminding you of what’s important in life. The purity of joy that these kids demonstrated from something as simple as completing a drill or even messing up in a funny way, left a lasting impression on me. I was brought to tears from laughing so hard at some of the conversations I was having with these ten-year old kids. They were encaptured by my accent and even though I am pretty used to the Irish accent, it still made me laugh hearing all these little guys making fun of me in their local dialect. It was a fun-filled two days that helped me appreciate the simple joys in life, and it was a blast teaching the local kids about the game that I love.
