Week 3 Recap
Good evening everyone,
Hoping everyone is having a great week so far.
Weekly Encouragement: Service Above Self
I am rebranding this section to something that I think fits better. It will now
be called “Weekly Encouragement”. Shout out to Matt Holmes for unintentionally
giving me the idea on Sunday.
So I’d like to pose a question to you. What is more important to you, your wants
and needs or those of other people in your life? In my opinion, we all are
typically bent towards putting our wants and needs above those of others. My
encouragement to you all today (including myself) is that I believe the best way
to live is to put the interests of others above our own. It seems to be
paradoxical, in that we often are happier when we focus on the good of others
rather than pursuing our own personal happiness. That proves an impossible task,
like chasing after the wind.
Many of the negative thoughts and emotions we wrestle with seem to occur when
our minds are focused on ourselves. Think of the term self-conscious for
instance. When we become overly self-conscious it can be a miserable way to
live.
But maybe an example would better help to communicate my point. Public speaking
is a common fear that many of us have, right? The majority of the dread we feel
towards public speaking is because our focus and worries are often related to
what people might think of us as we speak. Now think for a moment, if you were
giving a speech or presentation and were so focused on the topic you were
discussing and how it might benefit those you are speaking to, your mind might
not get as crowded by the fears that many of us have when we are standing in
front of people. What would probably happen is that you would perform better and
even might enjoy the experience more.
Or what if you are at a party or social gathering of some kind having a
conversation with someone we don’t know well. For many of us, this situation can
be anxiety inducing as we are trying to think of what to say next, how this
person perceives us, or what others in the room might be thinking about us. It’s
difficult to enjoy that conversation if our mind is racing in several different
directions. Instead, what if we turned our focus and efforts towards being fully
engaged in the conversation with that person and considering how we might make
that person’s day better upon leaving that conversation? What we might find in
that circumstance is an enjoyable time connecting with someone and making a
positive impact on their life.
A third situation some of us might face is the demands of sacrificing time to
spend with your kids. I know I often find this difficult to do because my mind
is often thinking of all the other things I “have to do” or even just the things
I would rather be doing. I might be physically spending time with my kids but am
I actually there? Not always. My challenge for myself is to fully focus on
providing quality time to my kids when I am with them. I want to want to put
their needs above my own but often fail at this. Choosing to gratefully
sacrifice my free time creates opportunities to truly be fully present with my
boys, enjoy the quality time with them more, and inch closer to the father and
man that I want to be.
I am convinced that the more we gratefully adopt our responsibilities, seeking
to do good for others, the more we enhance meaning and purpose in our lives. I
think that we also more fully enjoy the moments of happiness, because we are not
chasing those fleeting moments, trying desperately to hold onto them. Instead we
can be free to enjoy those moments as they come.
Week 4 Schedule (3/22):
* 5:30pm – Tyler’s Heroes vs. Balling for God (Cloudy with a Chance of
Airballs: Kaleb Thompson, Michael Manthorp, Dean Landeros)
* 6:30pm – Cloudy with a Chance of Airballs vs. Goon Squad (Noah’s Ark: Joshua
Antee, Nathan Saedi, Caleb Taufi)
* 7:30pm – Noah’s Ark vs. Matt and the Missed Opportunities (Goon Squad: Kailen
Green, Tony Stepanyan, Ryan Lambert)
Weekly Shoutouts:
* Joshua LePenske led the league in scoring this week with 31 points. 21 of
those points came from behind the arc making 7 out of his 11 three point
attempts to lead the team to victory.
* Our assist leaders for the week were Karsen Butler and Brandon Porras with 6
and 7 assists respectively. Hah you see what I did there? I know that trend
is overdone but I’m a dad so we catch on late.
* Other stat leaders were Alec Frank with 9 rebounds, and Collin
Moffatt and Garrett Holoway picked pockets 5 times each.
Weekly Recap:
* In our first game of the day, Tim and Joey decided they had more important
things to do than come to a Sunday church league game. So I guess ball isn’t
life for them then huh? The absence of the opposition’s two leading scorers
allowed for Goon Squad to get a 12 point win, despite a poor shooting
performance from the team starting with a missed dunk attempt from Kailen
Green. Thankfully captain Jacob Brummett is a gracious captain and is going
to give Kailen another chance before considering cutting him for such
mistakes. Final score was 41 to 29.
* Game two was a blowout between Justin Time and Cloudy with a Chance of
Airballs. Joshua LePenske’s 31 points wasn’t the only reason Justin
Time proved to be the better team on Sunday as the team also combined for a
total assist count of 15. This is compared to a combined 4 assists
from Cloudy with a Chance of Airballs. Of course assists are a
notoriously missed stat so I could be wrong here. Final score was 72 to 41.
* Tyler’s Heroes came out on top against Noah’s Ark to hand them their second
loss of the season. Captain Tyler Bernth continues his consistent drafting of
teams with hustle and teamwork evidenced by continued stats across the
board. Noah’s Ark could not get the win despite having 9 players active on
the roster this week. And some are saying the loss is primarily due to Kai
Husen’s questionable socks and shoes combination. Either way, Noah’s Ark will
look to bounce back next week to get their first win of the season. Final
score was 53 to 46.
Have a great rest of your week. See you on Sunday!
Jacob Brummett | League Scribe
