2019 4th and 5th grade camp in the books

SCHS 2nd-3rd Grade Camp 2019 in the Books

Coach Means Many Things

John Bradley is my friend.

It did not start out that way because when I was in high school playing for Henryville, he was the varsity boys basketball coach at Silver Creek.

His job my senior year was to find a way to slow me down as a scorer, and well, he was the coach of the evil empire.

Somehow I was able to get past his past when he became the boys basketball coach at Henryville.

I had graduated a few years before and my coach had stepped down and there were a couple different guys who had coached and it didn't work out.

Coach Bradley was ready to come in and rebuild a program that the town could be proud of.

I was pretty lost those first few years after high school, not really understanding what I was doing, where I was going and would still attend Henryville open gyms and games when I could.

I will never forget one day I was standing against the wall of the Spurgeon gym (the older, smaller gym) and Coach Bradley came up and asked me how I was doing.

After some small talk about where I was working, what I was doing he then asked a question that would forever change my life.

"Would you be interested in coaching the freshman team?" he asked.

I was 23 years old, but the weight of coaching was something I had zero confidence I could do and he must have seen how I reacted because he told me to take 24 hours and think about it.

I did.

I accepted.

From that moment in that gym to today, coaching basketball has taken me around the state of Indiana, it has taken me to other places in this country, it has taken me to five continents (six this summer, headed to Australia), and has allowed me to be to young men what John Bradley was and is to me.

A mentor, and now a friend.

Recently, Coach and Mrs. Bradley's son, Michael, passed away and I cannot fathom the pain they have endured and still are and I am sure will for the rest of their lives.

But they can rest easier, I hope, knowing that they have made positive contributions to so many young people's lives as coaches and teachers.

They have given much of their time through the years to help others from students to adults. They have done so willingly and unselfishly.

If it were not for John Bradley walking up to a 23 year old and asking him a simple question, I do not know where I would have ended up.

But because he did, it has been a heckuva ride and all because he took time then and through the years to help me out.

My only hope is that he can understand what he has done and that he and his wife's lives have not been in vain because of situations that happen to them, but they have had hugely successful lives because of the situations they have created for others.

Who Do You Think You Are?

I'm just a guy who is probably too self-aware that is able to convey his feelings in written and spoken form that some people can relate.

That's it.

Sure, I'm a husband and father (the greatest thing I am), a son, a brother, a....well, you get the point. I'm many things.

I'm a basketball coach who has lost with seasons where I've won 3 games to this past season as an assistant with Silver Creek boys where we won the State Championship.

I'm someone who thinks too much, worries too often, and too often thinks they know everything and nothing at the same time.

I'm someone who deals with anxiety and sometimes feel like I don't know if I want to go on, but am scared to death I'm going to die.

I feel the weight of too much responsibility, but yet, will pull back when I cannot breathe because of me not being able to say "no".

Recently, I was asked by Leah Lowe if I would provide an article from time to time for the Charlestown Courier, and I agreed.

Not because I think I have anything anyone would want to read, but because writing is cathartic for me and if maybe, just maybe, it can help someone else see they're not alone, make them smile, or help them to remember something than that is a good thing.

I enjoy being from and living in southern Indiana.

Yes, I love my hometown of Henryville and my current town of the last 16 years, Sellersburg.

But I can also see the goodness in the surrounding communities and the people who make those places tick on a daily basis.

I enjoy traveling over seas (I have been on five continents and Lord willing six this summer when the family heads to Australia) for coaching clinics and the basketball people know about Indiana high school basketball.

I enjoy finding joy in the monotony of daily life. I believe we too often forget to stop and smell not just the roses, but the air outside even if it is the smell of whatever is burning from the Clark-Floyd Landfill (what is that by the way?).

Finally, my faith in Jesus Christ is what helps me make sense of the chaotic, depressing things that happen too often to and around me.

I put my hope not in the things of this world, but in Him.

I put my hope not in the people of this world, but in Him.

I put my hope not in anything of this world, but I do in Him.

So, here we go, this is the first installment of what may become something I do regularly, or it might be the last, depending on what Mrs. Lowe thinks.

It could be basketball related, it could be Jesus related, it could be family related, or it could be about something that is on mind and has nothing to do with any of that.

Thanks in advance for reading, but if you do not; well, have a great day anyway.

Another First Place Ring

I Am a White Man in America

Just look at me above, I am white.

I so wanted to have something other than Irish or German DNA, so I did the ancestry DNA thing, and it came back conclusive...I'm white.

30% German
30% Irish/Welsh/English
16% Northern Europe (YES! Part Viking)
4% Southern Europe (Maybe Italy? Possibly some non-white DNA?)

Then some small percentages of other places including < 1% of Jewish DNA.

So, I'm white and I have the paperwork to prove it.

And you can look at me to see that I'm a white man in a predominantly white country with white privilege.

Yes, I said it or typed it, I guess, white privilege.

White privilege exists whether we want to acknowledge it or do anything about it.

Sort of like racism, you can deny it exists, but it does so you're incorrect.

But back to white privilege.

If you're not white, you're probably surprised that white people don't understand their privilege because it's been, well, our life.

I explained it someone once that I have been allowed to "float" through life because of my race.

My family was not the most affluent (we didn't want for anything, but didn't live in a mansion either) in a small town. I had so much support that I was able to pretend like high school mattered, was given many opportunities at jobs, flunked out of college (sorta), worked dead end jobs while figuring out who I was, was offered a coaching position, started subbing and working without a real job after a degree for two years, and now live in a nice home in a nice community with spoiled children.

If that doesn't explain white privilege, I don't know what will because I am not  Kennedy or a Bush, or any super affluent rich family in this country.

I'm just a regular guy who floated through his 20's until he found himself and his purpose and started to "thrive".

What % of people of color are able to do that?

They often come from broken homes (not me), they have little support (not me), they aren't given the opportunities of jobs because of issues that come from the first two points listed her (not me), they don't go to college or if they flunk out, it's over (not me), they rarely are given time to find themselves because they are trying to survive the day to day (not me) and just parts of these points do not allow for them to live in a nice home, in a nice community with spoiled children like I do.

Is it socioeconomic and not racial? It could be, but...

What races are often worse off socioeconomically? Non-white.

Should they be able to get out of their situation? Yea, I believe it's a possibility, but as a teacher of psychology and sociology and really, just a person who can look around and see that poverty is generational. It is very hard for anyone to overcome their situation, no matter race.

But it makes sense that if larger numbers of a race are in poverty, then that race will have a harder time overcoming their circumstances.

Which gets me back to my original point.

White privilege exists and really so does American privilege, but that's an article for another time.

But I want you to think about this:
1. I can call 911 at any time and support will be to me almost immediately where I live.
2. I can approach a police officer at any time either peaceful or in a hostile situation and be protected.
3. I can drive through any part of any town and not be pulled over for being suspicious, but often for "my own good" as in "you really need to get out of this part of town" (that may or may not have actually happened.
4. I can speak to law enforcement in just about any tone that I want to.
5. No one follows me around in a store worried about what I am going to do.
6. I could carry a gun and not be stopped by law enforcement and maybe even celebrated by most of those people around me.

And I am sure there are more points I could come up with if I wanted to.

Now don't get me wrong, I love law enforcement, I have friends in law enforcement who some agree with me and I do believe that criminals regardless of race should be treated as such, but...

Why are they criminals?
Why am I not?

I can guarantee you that I have done things in the past and had encounters with law enforcement that ended better for me for whatever reason, but I see it now as white privilege.

But white privilege exists, how do I know?

Because 90%+ people of color think it does.

Because 90%+ people of color think there are issues based on their skin color.

Ok, just because those stats exists doesn't mean it's real, I will concede you are allowed to have that opinion, but if that high of a % believes there are racial issues and believe privilege exists, shouldn't we at least listen?

Yea...I think that's a good place to start.

Listening.

Then learning.

Then changing.

Come on, we can all change some can't we?