NBA Summer League Year 1
Where do I even begin? I guess we can start with: wow, what an amazing summer. I got baptized! 75-hour work weeks, hour commutes for internship in each direction, on top of summer classes… I definitely thought a trip to Las Vegas for Summer League would be like a “vacation”. Dang, I was very innocent to think that. But as I begin my last semester of grad school, I wanted to take some time to reflect on an amazing experience that is a first of many to come, but one which I will never forget.
As I have been going over my trip with friends, family, and in my own mind, the days truly start to blur together. Flying in Day 1 before the games had tipped off, getting my bearings around Sin City was nearly impossible. Lights everywhere, smell of smoke in all areas, no concept of time; truly mayhem. How this one street serves as a place in which people can come and live so recklessly for a weekend is a wild concept we have created as Americans, but that’s beside the point. Once the first 2 days had passed, it was time for non-stop basketball for the next 10 days. 12pm-10pm every day is something that absolutely takes a whole lot of caffeine, as well as desire to meet individuals I had flown across the country to get in front of.
As I began to introduce myself and finally meet face to face with these people I had been speaking with over the phone for years or even weeks, I truly valued the chance to get to know them as more than a title, more than a voice, but as human beings that I could really get to know. Throughout these meetings and short talks before, after, and during a whole lot of basketball, I began to understand a few things that make a 22-year-old kid going into the work force really grateful and excited for. First, I really do love this game. Watching that much basketball can be a little exhausting, but viewing it as the chance to watch live games I hadn’t been able to see for months due to Covid, this was awesome. Then, seeing men and women truly care, want to help, and invest some of their time and knowledge to not just me, but any other students like myself working hard to just get an opportunity, was something that made so much of this feel worth it. SO many of the great people I had gotten to know through phone calls, texts, LinkedIn messages, became even stronger relationships and friendships through this experience. Their ability to listen, encourage, and honestly be a resource is something I absolutely won’t take for granted. It is easy for people to say, “Let me know if you need anything.” It is vastly different when you feel like you can reach out to multiple different people who have been in your shoes, bounce ideas off of them, get advice from them, and even just rely on them for help and see it live in action. For them to genuinely mean what they say, that they are there FOR you. It is a feeling inside that makes me realize I am extremely blessed to have some really amazing people in the league who want to help me succeed and pay it forward from when someone gave them their chance and believed in them. This trip was a true full circle, showing that making genuine relationships with really good people is so much more important than networking with anyone and everyone with a cool-sounding job title.
Then, spending those last days getting onto the court, helping some of these players get better at their profession is really where I was able to feel that this was where I belonged. 8am-1pm I spent working out with these guys, yet it felt like I blinked and it was over. I felt at home, I felt like I was walking in exactly where God had directed my feet and my heart. IMPACT gym really welcomed me with open arms and allowed me to learn, grow, and develop in a very quick time period. And where it all comes to a humbling moment is that on top of everything, without the experience, time, people and knowledge that IMG Academy had equipped me with over the previous 3 months, I wouldn’t have even been able to walk in that gym. Even in front of IMG, learning hints of this at USF as a naive 18–20 year old, and our Head Coach vouching for me to even allow me to get that IMG job, it is wild to see how EVERYTHING I have been a part of come into play, full circle. Never did I think I’d get through certain time periods in each step of this continuing journey, but here we are: still pushing, still learning, still growing. I as well have moments where I think this is a waste and I get overwhelmed and want to give up, but as I see now how God uses these moments to stretch you out, work on you the most to prepare you for the amazing moments He has on the other side. The best things in life come on the other side of adversity and hardship; nothing worthwhile ever came without a challenge.
So, as my summer comes to an end and I go into this last semester, I just want to say thank you. Thank you to USF basketball. Thank you to IMG. Thank you to new friendships. Thank you for amazing friends and family hour + FaceTimes full of love, laughter, and support. Thank you to the 4am Vegas coffee shop with one of the best friends I could ask for (and some bomb overnight oats). Thank you to every new friend and relationship I have gained with people in basketball that continue to help me grow and learn more about this game and myself. Thank you God for getting me here and keeping me afloat in this thing called life. Plenty more to go, so let’s get it.
“The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.” Psalm 121:8
