5:30AM Basketball

I hate waking up early. I'm becoming more and more accustomed to it though. I recently started working at Christian school in Ann Arbor, which means that I have to get up early. For the time being it is nice to get up and see the sunrise in my review mirror on my way to work. I love seeing how God is going to paint the sky in a completely unique way each and every morning. It gives me a sense of joy that I never received before because I would simply sleep straight through it.

But a couple of days a week I get up at ten 'til five so that I can meet a group of guys to play some basketball in Ann Arbor before I head off to work. I got hooked up with this 5am group through my dad who also plays there a few days a week. I'm not usually real great at getting up early in the morning to do anything on a regular basis, but playing basketball every Wednesday and Friday has been great.

When it comes to getting physical exercise I prefer playing sports (if that isn't obvious from the theme of this blog). But it is difficult to find a group of people that play on a regular basis at a time that works well for everyone involved. So 5:30am it is then. However, I've found that it is so nice to get my exercise out of the way in the morning. I'm a big sports fan, so at night I like to watch sports. Between that and dinner there isn't much time for a quick run, let alone an organized sport. I love just being able to relax knowing that I've already got my workout in for the day.

Those are all real great reasons why I like to play at this ridiculous hour in the morning, but the real reason that I go is to play with my dad. For the last eight or so years I have been living on the other side of the state, and haven't been able to see my parents face to face a whole lot. If you had told me this time two years ago that I would be playing basketball every Wednesday and Friday mornings with my dad I would have thought that you were crazy.

God has blessed both me and my wife with our dream jobs in a city that is very close to both of our families. I love the fact that I get the opportunity to see them on a weekly basis and play a little ball with my dad. Mom, I'm working on it. But I promise we'll find our 'thing' soon. I would have never imagined that both me and my wife would find such perfect jobs in Ann Arbor and be in a place to share so much time with our families, but that is just the way God works. I am very thankful.

The Jump

In high school I played a bunch of different sports. Of the sports that I played, high jumping on the track team was the thing that I was most skilled at. I ran cross country and played basketball, but I was never a stand out athlete in those sports. I would have never drawn the attention of college recruiters in those sports, but in track I had a chance.

My freshman year I jumped 5'10", which is pretty good for a freshman. I really enjoyed running track in high school. I did it mostly for fun and because I was good at it, but I never would have thought that it would have changed my life.

I was a junior and I had a teammate high jumper that was a year younger than me, but jumping at the same level as I was. That year we pushed each other to new heights, hehe. We started the season both jumping around 5'8"-5'10" consistently. The question was always, who was going to break the 6'0" barrier first? I ended up being the first person over the bar, but I was upstaged a week later when my teammate jumped 6'2". I never again cleared 6'0". Only once have I been over that bar, but it was enough to get me recruited by the Hope College.

Both of my parents and my sister went to MSU and are die hard Spartan fans. I grew up a fan and always thought that I would end up a Spartan. When it came time to apply to colleges, I only applied to two schools: MSU and Hope College. I visited Hope and fell in love with the campus and the community. I was excited to go to Hope and be a college athlete.

I had a disappointing senior track season and that ended up discouraging me from joining the track & field team at Hope. When I arrived at Hope I was on my own and my faith was tested. I'm confident that I would have never been able to be the person that I am today if I would have gone to MSU. God used my athletic skills to bring me to hope, but I never ended up using that skill at the college level. I like to think that God sent his angels to lift me up over that bar my junior year so that he could place me in the school that I was supposed to be in.

It was a home meet, and I had already had two failed attempts. I ran the hook shaped pattern and jumped as high as I could, just as I had done a thousand times before. But it was that split second in time, where I was able to get that extra inch, that changed my life forever. It was the jump that changed my life.

Winning and Losing

In my latest post I told y'all about my tryout with the Detroit Mechanix. There is going to be another tryout in mid March, so unfortunately I have no updates on whether or not I made the team. Rather than waiting until then to post again, I thought that it would be best to bring another issue to the table.

In this post I want to talk about what it means to win or lose as a Christian. In our culture, and specifically in our sports culture, everything rests on winning and losing. We define our success on whether or not we win games. Coaches can lose their jobs if they don't bring home a certain number of Ws each year. If my job rested on winning and losing, then my priorities would change a little too. But is this what God is calling us to do? Certainly winning is more fun and should be one of our goals; but aren't there other goals that we should be focused on as Christians in sports?

My dad is a varsity women's basketball coach and he has proposed an interesting scenario. Its the final seconds of the game. Our team is up by one point and the other team has the ball. The point guard drives down the middle of the lane and puts up a shot at the buzzer and misses. But wait...there is a shooting foul called against our team, which puts the other teams point guard at the free throw line for two shots with no time left on the clock. What is our response as Christians? Do we pray to God that this person misses the free throws? Or, do we simply step back and hope that this player in this high pressure situation doesn't crumble? 

If we are motivated only by receiving the W in the win column, then yeah. Let's go ahead and pray that God makes him miss those shots. But what about that player at the free throw line? He/she has then ability to win and lose the game all by themselves. If they miss, then they will feel the criticism from their team and school for a while. If they make it, then they are a hero among their teammates while our team has to deal with defeat. My concerns are more for the individual on the foul line. I wouldn't openly cheer for him, but I don't ever wish, or pray for failure upon anyone. 

Lastly, I want to talk about how we should win and how we should lose. All of us have won games, and all of us have lost games. Every athlete has to deal with failure at some point. How we deal with that failure reflects our character. We need to be able to lose well. Making excuses about the referees and specific situations is not a good way to lose. Jim Harbaugh has given us a good example of losing poorly in this years Super Bowl as he jumps up and down the side-line signaling for holding. We could probably talk about the call itself for a while, but the result will still be the same at the end. When our only desire becomes winning the game, then we are more likely to complain and make excuses when we lose. If we are concerned with doing our best and playing our hardest, then we are much less likely to make excuses when things don't work out the way we want them to. I'm not saying that we shouldn't complain about bad calls every once and a while (I am still a little irritated about Galaraga's "perfect game" that was blown on a bad call with two outs in the bottom of the ninth). What I am saying is that we need to take responsibility for our losses and try not to let it happen again. The 49ers didn't deserve to win that game, but I would have so much more respect for them as an up-and-coming young team in the NFL if their coach and fans would just stop complaining. Those players don't deserve to have people dislike their team just because Jim Harbaugh is a bit of a jerk. We must remember that how we handle losses and wins reflects on the teams that we play on and cheer for.

Winning well is also important. When our teams win we should never rub it in the face of our opponent or a opposing fan. When we do that it reflects the reputation of our team and our faith. We shouldn't rub our salvation in other people's faces, so why should we rub in a simple rivalry win? The end result is never good. If you dish it, get ready for it to come right back around next year. Part of that is just plain fun, but as Christians I think that we are better than that. If we start arguing about sports more than living into the kingdom of God, then we have a real problem. If that rival team and their fans become our primary enemies, then you have already lost against sin. And that is the "game" that counts. If we start hating our sports rivals, even though they are fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, then what have we become?

Tryouts

This Friday and Saturday I will be going to the combine for the Detroit Mechanix. The Mechanix are a professional ultimate frisbee team in the AUDL (American Ultimate Disc League). Ultimate is one of the largest growing sports in the world, and the competition level is getting pretty high. I don't really know if I have a shot of making this team or not, but I'm not too optimistic. The Mechanix and the AUDL have even gotten some attention from ESPN. Here are some of the best plays that made the highlight reel.

In this play the assist came from a buddy of mine that I've been playing with for a number of years. The reciever, Ben Ayres, is the former captain of Kalamazoo College Ultimate.
Kraght to Ayres

In this video the play is #3 on the ESPN Top10.

I can't pass up on the chance to play a professional sport, and since I will never make it to the NBA I think this is the next best thing. Like I said before, there is a lot of talent emerging to come and try out for these teams, so I don't know what my chances are like. In anticipation that I will be getting cut from this team next week, I'm going to save that discussion for then. This week I want to talk about making the team, or just winning in general.

Throughout my athletic career I would have to say that one of my proudest moments was when I made my 7th grade team. I know that this seems a little silly to most people, but in seventh grade I was 6'0" and about 135 lbs. Needless to say, I was a scrawny little kid. I was also going to one of the largest middle schools in the state of Pennsylvania at the time, so it was a little harder than it sounds. I was so excited that I made that team that I don't think I broke a smile for about a week. I was on the top of the world, and I'm sure that everyone around me could tell.

So how do we handle situations like that as Christians? I'm now thinking of every Quarterback in their post game interview after winning the Superbowl saying, "I want to thank God for this awesome opportunity." I'm pretty convinced that there has got to be a better way of conducting yourself than just using cliches and thanking your mom. I think that humility is important, but what does true humility look like?

I personally believe that true humility is when you just take the stinking complement and say thank you. Don't be afraid to tell people how hard you worked for something. Your not being selfish by receiving compliments in a moment that you have worked hard to be able to enjoy. It is true though that you must turn the attention back to God at some point, but be specific. There is a reason that God has given you your athletic ability and put you in that situation. You can even tell a short story about how God got you through a difficult time to get you to this place. This is called a testimony, and it is something that will direct the attention toward the great works of God in your life, and possibly even in the lives of your teammates and coaches. Hopefully this time next week I'll be posting something that sounds an awful lot like what I just described, so wish me luck. 

Going All Out

I don't typically get in altercations with other players, but I see it happen with other people all the time.

Playing sports can get a little rough at times. If I'm trying to win and your trying to win, then there is going to be some incidental contact. I for one happen to love it. There aren't too many times in life where you are aloud to push someone around a little and they can push right back, and then you can step out of the game and have a very casual conversation. When I play basketball I kind of like playing against someone who is a little bit bigger than me. I know that I am going to have to toughen up a little bit in order to contain him. It's kinda fun.

Having said that, I hate playing against someone who is intentionally doing illegal things in order to beat me. I love playing in a really physical match-up. I hate playing against cheaters. There is a fine line between these two types of players, but it means a world of difference to your opponent. I believe that people who cheat have humility issues, and people who play hard have competitiveness issues. The person who cheats doesn't want to beat you. Rather, they just want the recognition for themselves. The person who plays hard just wants to beat you fair and square.

It's okay to be competitive. But what if I'm playing competitively and he is cheating? What should the right response be? The response should not be to cheat right back. If you hit him/her back harder, then you've already escalated the situations. An eye for an eye will not help you resolve the situation. It will actually make it worse. You are no longer there to have fun playing a sport that you love. You are now there for your own pride.

My solution is to just smile. I don't really have to force myself to smile, I just simply think that it is funny that someone needs to cheat in order to prove themselves. It is not secret that this guy is cheating. Everyone else on the floor and in the stands can see it. Just because your opponent is ruining their reputation, that doesn't mean that you should ruin yours.

As Christians we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard and not treat sports as a part of life that is completely separate from the Christian life. You should be the same person on the floor as you are off the floor. People should be able to tell that you are a Christian in day-to-day life, and the same should be true when you step our onto the court or field. It's fun to be competitive with other people and to give it your all, but it must be done in the context of the Christian life.

Spike It!

When I started this blog, this is one of the main topics that I had in mind. What compels someone who plays a team sport to spike the ball and do a little dance? Football is a team sport, and I don't think I have ever seen a play where the player that scored did it completely on their own. There is always someone who helped them get there, but that person is rarely ever recognized. I can completely understand the excitement of someone getting up after making a big play and being pretty pumped about it. But that excitement does not result in an elaborate dance that was choreographed beforehand. It is easy to tell the difference between the two. 

Barry Sanders was the best running back to ever play the game . Sorry Walter. It's true. The NFL Network recently did a countdown of the best end-zone celebrations of all time. The winner was Barry Sanders who had a very unique end-zone celebration. Take a look:

It has become so much of a part of the game to spike the ball and do a dance. So, what Barry did was so out of the ordinary that it is actually the #1 best touchdown celebration. Every time he scored I knew that it wasn't his first time in the end-zone and it wasn't going to be his last. The way that most guys celebrate, you would have thought that they never score touchdowns. Barry was humble enough to not draw attention to himself, but everyone still knows his name. But it isn't just enough to not draw attention to yourself, we should also try to draw attention away from ourselves and to the people that assist us in team sports. 

If you read my previous post, then you know that I am an ultimate frisbee player, and that ultimate players hold themselves to a higher standard due to the sport being self-officiated. However, spiking the disc has become a more prevalent occurrence where it was once heavily frowned upon. It is still frowned upon outside of the national spotlight. I hate seeing players spike the disc, because ultimate is a team sport at its core. You cannot move once you have the disc, therefore there is an assist with every point scored. By spiking the disc you take all the attention away from the person who threw it to you. At the lower levels of ultimate there is an unwritten rule that awards the assistor with the "pull" (an ultimate term for a "kickoff") on the next point. As a scoring player, you can do one of two things. You could spike the disc and walk off the field, or you could toss it back to the person who assisted your score. You tell me which one uses your athletic gifts in order bring praise to God. 

How many times do we see basketball players get an awesome pass for a big dunk and then pound his own chest on his way back down the court? Occasionally you will see a player point to the person with the assist to recognize their pass to you as the better play than their own easy dunk. 

Pointing at your own awesomeness is not humility. Play the game for those on your team. Live life for those around you and not for yourself. We should always look first to put others before ourselves, even when we are the ones that everyone is looking at and praising. 

The Culture of Ultimate Frisbee

I have two sports that I really love to play, and one way more than the other. I play competitive Ultimate Frisbee more than I play any other sport. In the winter months it becomes a little more difficult to play, but I do still play a bit at indoor soccer complexes. I really play a lot more basketball in the winter time given that it is difficult to play indoor ultimate regularly. I know that there might be a lot of criticism about whether or not ultimate is a 'real' sport. I hope that this video puts that criticism to rest.

There is a huge difference in the culture of ultimate and basketball. Basketball is a sport that is officiated, so it becomes a sport where people believe that they can get away with whatever the refs don't see. I mostly just play pickup basketball, where there is no referees. It makes it so you have to call your own fouls, but the culture of the sport is so competitive that there are constant arguments and disagreements. 

Ultimate is a self officiated game at all levels except for the AUDL (American Ultimate Disc League. That's right. There is professional ultimate, and we have our own team that plays in the Pontiac Silver Dome. The Detroit Mechanix.) This means that players must take on a certain amount of sportsmanship in order to make the game fun to play. It truly is a remarkable sport because people are always able to solve their disputes without getting into fights or lengthened disagreements. 

Ultimate has really taken on the importance of sportsmanship and respect for others. The game is still played at a high level, but the players still recognize that treating each other with respect is more important than the outcome of any particular play. Basketball is focused on the outcome of the game, and it doesn't really matter how you get there as long as you come out on top in the end. If you were to act out of this mindset in the ultimate world, then no one would ever want to play against you and especially with you. 

No matter what sport you play, try to adopt the ultimate mindset. Be much more concerned about treating each other well than with winning the game. Tomorrow nobody will remember who won your pickup game at the gym, but they will remember how they were treated and what kind of person you are. This is how we are able to be Christians on the court/field. We go against the way that our culture is telling us to treat each other and become much more sensitive to God's command to love our neighbor as ourselves even in the midst of intense competition. Competition does not need to equal cheating, poor sportsmanship, and disrespect.