Christ Church Kings

We recently participated in a local basketball league called Athletes for Christ Outreach (AFCO).  The league is for boys ages 13-17 and ran for 6 weeks.  Each Saturday the teams had a game; finishing up by a league championship tournament. The Christ Church Kings had 9 boys and 3 coaches who came together with the hopes of being this year’s champion.  More than that though, we hoped that by participating this group of young men would develop into men of God who would work together and trust one another long term.

Some of the guys I’ve known for a while, some I coached on the Northside High Freshman Basketball team this year and others were from the neighborhood I had recently met. While a few were friends before or knew of each other, not all of them had personal relationships. We started practicing about 2 weeks before the season began so they could meet one another and start to learn how to work as a team. Naturally, at our first few practices the guys were reserved and kept to themselves. Then one night things took a turn for the worse.

It was one of those practices where nothing was going right for anyone (coaches included).  We were in the middle of our UCLA shooting drill and the guys were just out of sync and you could see the frustration pouring out of their faces.  At the end of a drill, two of the boys began to exchange words and then two more joined in, one on each side.  Frustration began to escalate until we as coaches stepped in. Once the boys settled down we brought them together. We explained teamwork and being accountable for our own actions.  This was something that we had been discussing in our weekly bible study so it wasn’t the first time they had heard it. It was, however, the first time they had to decide to apply it in this situation when they really didn’t want to.  As we returned back to our practice you could sense that the fellas weren’t quiet as into things as they had previously been and that there was still some tension in the air. It was anyone’s guess as to how the rest of the season would go.

As the weeks went on though, you could see friendships developing.  Before games, the guys would sit together in the stands and watch other teams play. The tone went from tense to playful (sometimes a little too much).  At this point we were 3-0 and the guys were coming together on the court; but this league was about more than just winning basketball games.  After practice one night one of the guys gets everybody’s attention and says, “Hey look, after this we all gonna be cool still, I mean y’all my boys now.”  This may not seem like much but this came from one of the guys who earlier in the season has the shortest temper and really didn’t want to let the others get to know him. As the season went on I watched them begin to trust one another more and more.  When things weren’t going the way someone wanted during a game or when they were struggling with a new drill, often one of their teammates was the one who would step in and encourage them.  We call that “picking their teammate up.”  Just seeing one of them taking input from another was a major improvement! 

While we may not have become league champions, 1 point loss in the semi-finals, this group locked arms each week on and off the court.  It took some time and there’s plenty of growth to be had, but walls eventually came down. What is even more exciting is that they all wanted to stick together and continue with our Sunday night bible study and practice.

The end of Chapter 2 in the book of Acts is often a passage in the bible that speaks to community and people coming together. More than just helping these guys develop friendships, which is an important skill, it is our hope that they would “receive the Word…and be devoted to the apostles teaching and to one another…having all things in common” in the Lord. Please pray for these young men, their families and the friends that they are now bringing with them.