I just learned of this last night and wanted to share.

 

I have a kid who played for me as a junior 2 seasons ago, had never played organized ball before. Very very less than optimal home life to put it mildly, nothing horrible, just not good. Slow kid, not very big, didn't really have a "playing" understanding of the game, but had a little country boy strength and could shoot a little bit. I worked with him a lot. He actually ended up starting quite a few games for us at 3/4, scored some points, had a hand full of pretty decent games.

 

Last year as a senior he wanted to try and do more, left our independent church related program to play for the local high school, Anderson County. He literally got no playing time last year for AC...possibly 2-3 minutes for the year if that. He felt bad about making the decision to not play for us and half way through the season I believe he felt he had made a mistake, but he stuck it out and carried through with his decision. Although he didn't get to play, he did continue to practice and get better and the seed I'd like to think I help plant continued to grow.

 

Well we started conditioning last week, and I had a handful of varsity kids show up. He asks yesterday if he can come to last nights workout. I said sure...though I wasn't sure why he wanted to, having graduated and knowing the workouts are tough.

 

So, he gets there last night and tells me he has been accepted to Cumberland University. Up until very recently he didn't really know what he wanted to do. He finally made the decision he needed to get out, get his education and prepare for his future, something I stress to all the kids. Why post this under the basketball thread? With that, he has been asked if he would like to join and play for the JV basketball team there at Cumberland. He is so excited and I couldn't be happier for him.

 

And by the way, if you need a mid range jumper hit at the end of a game...he's your man. Kid is now almost automatic and rarely misses. I guess some of me did rub off on him. :up:

Kudos to you and to the kid for all the hard work. It is always nice to hear these stories about kids who work their tail off and then see some success.

That's cool.

Awesome story. Thanks so much for sharing.

Always good to hear this kind of story. Kudos all around.

If only one kid "gets it" you have done your job. Congrats to the both of you. Please keep us updated on this young man's status.

Very nice! My admiration to all involved.

Thanks guys, I'm really hoping for the best for the young man. I'm taking Friday off and taking him down to spend some time on campus, help him get familiar with the area. My girlfriends oldest daughter graduated from there and I'm very familiar with the area so I'm looking forward to helping him start to get "settled in".

Good stuff. Thank you for sharing this story. :thumb: