Category: Off Court

In both my district and domestic basketball coaching I've nearly had to forfeit many games in the last 12 months - until I started to look at it differently 

Its been a big twelve months in my life having all of a sudden found a dramatic increase in my involvement in basketball. Twelve months ago my jobs with the Adelaide Lightning and NBL had concluded after much hope had been placed in resuming those roles. I still had good work with my other community organisations and some small media roles but I thought my ship had sailed and the opportunity to write about basketball to support the community around me.

After much prayer to decide which direction to head next – I then made the decision off the back of this loss in faith to invest in my business TJ Prentice Media and registered it. I continued to cover the NBL1 Central independently while even focusing in on womens basketball local, afar and tournament play. Then my landscape began to change. 

The NBL reinstated me to my previous NBL1 Central reporting role while also being able to continue commentating games. I took on the GM role at my basketball club Holdfast Heat as well as my old scholars for Concordia College – which begun to re-up my involvement in basketball again. With that came the stress and worry of a weekly prospect that dogs the manager of a basketball club and groups of teams – the forfeit.

The decision to forfeit can sometimes be easy and accept loss of that weeks play but when you start to factor in the financial cost of doing so, the impact on your opposition that you were looking to play and the reputation you can garner for not turning up can sometimes overshadow that decision. I will count at least 20 times in 2022 where I nearly called in forfeiting games to our competitions head. 

As a GM of these teams I suffered a lot of anxiety and stress in the lead up to domestic games on weekends last year and I worked out why that was. I was trying to rely on my own strength and willpower to make things work and put it simply – that just wasn’t working.

As a man of faith – when your stressing about whether you have enough players for the weekend on Thursday night two days before a game in your own strength – you have a problem that needs addressing        

On Good Friday 2022 I remembered the greatest forfeit of all so that I would not have to rely on my own strength and that very thought changed it for me completely. Instead of panicking and thinking there’s no one out there that wants to play – I took the lack of my usual teams as an opportunity to reach out to old friends from past, to use fill in groups to find potential new inclusions and relied on the power of prayer to fill each team with what they needed. Somehow each game went ahead and regardless of result matches were played – but there was a greater impact on my life that I now understand looking back I needed in my life.

My world opened up as I reconnected with past players, friends and supporters – even if they couldn’t play that weekend it was my way of reaching out and saying “I thought of you and have not forgotten you.” The basketball fill ins group introduced me to so many new people I was not connected with and most which I found out already knew someone I did. The prospect of a loss actually helped me build relationships unexpecting and helped find key people in my future.

Building relationships with people rather than relying on my strength, gifts and talents has allowed these things to shine through and the fruits of that were realised in the second half of last year. The timing again of course was perfect even though it was not my ideal to have it all happen at the eleventh hour. I had been made redundant from one of my community roles I had done the last ten years but also had just made connections and relationships with some basketball media people in the Cluch network. Instead of a pause in my season my commentary continued with them for the Adelaide 36ers home games – another dream of mine from way back.

Little did I know that a small reach out to one of the esteemed basketball outlets of the last decade in the Pick and Roll Australia purely because I wanted the WNBL to be more in the spotlight – put me in a position to continue working in basketball media. A visit to the FIBA Womens World Cup and investing in volunteering and giving maximum effort yielded more connections and relationships that built on from what I had.

Instead of a quiet summer I was able to attend, commentate, write and bring to public awareness the WNBL, NBL, NBL1 off-season and much more. It allowed me to release my desire to restart my redundant program and continue onto the next working chapter of my life. I spent more time at grassroots district and domestic level developing a womens program for my beloved SA Church Stars and SACBA clubs which has yielded juniors for the first time in a long time.

Now I find myself with some key roles in the NBL1 Central and basketball media industry working contract for various organisations whilst continuing on with my grassroots programs – and of course one of my other community programs that has incorporated elements of my previous work for a larger youth cohort.

As a young man once on the spectrum and some areas of course still evident – relying on my own strength, gifts and talents alone would’ve not gotten me very far as you can see.

It is not by my works but by grace shown to me by the one that suffered the ultimate forfeit that has me where I am today…         

For those that have read this far let me tell you the most important thing you will hear today. The ultimate forfeit was my saviour in Jesus Christ on this day a long time ago as he gave his life for everyone – in every aspect of life he has taught me all I know, how to act, how to speak, listen, hear and show tremendous respect to all around me.

I can’t be this in my own self and you’ll see in me daily when I am leaning on myself rather than on him. Regardless of what you believe today know that it is because of the above you have the “TP” of today and not a different one. A wonderful woman in my life sees that now and I have the joy and excitement in going into an everlasting marriage with her later this year.

Given the above – should we not reflect on what loss means to us when we all suffer this daily in one form or another? How we look and view it from afar can change the direction of your life and as a basketballer – help you to focus on what is most important and a bit more than just what happens on the court.

I hope this day this is considered for as we navigate through life – loss can teach us the most about ourselves and who we actually want to be…

 

 

Craigieburn Eagle Big V Womens Division 1 player Renai Fejo I visited on my last recent visit to Victoria earlier this year will feature this week along with her family in the All-Stars - Picture credit taken by Friend

I sit here and write in Seven Seeds Roasters in North Melbourne at a “selah” period of my life on my four yearly holiday trip. As my commitment is to the SA core team for the National Baptist Carnival on an annual basis I only take this trip every four years and this year I decided to head to Melbourne for the week away and as they say with good shot selection, timing is everything.

Its a big week here for basketball in Melbourne and the country, the first ever indigenous international match in Victoria is occurring between Australia and USA (Kingdom of Hawaii team) at the State Basketball Centre in Knox and the Australian Boomers are here to play the USA on Thursday and Saturday night at Marvel Stadium. It also gives me a chance to check out some of the other basketball activities happening around here in the state so its exciting and I feel very blessed to be here at this golden time in basketball in the country.  Which leads me to something I’m very pleased to share about for those who enjoy reading my basketball analysis particularly with the NBL.

I am returning to writing during the NBL Season 2019/2020 with as I hinted in my title to this article And The Foul.Net as the Adelaide Correspondent. I am excited to have an opportunity to once again pursue my sports journalism craft in NBL via this time a national platform similar to the one I was very blessed to have when writing for the Adelaide 36ers back in 2016-2017. We are possibly going to witness one of the greatest NBL seasons to date and I can’t wait to answer some of the burning questions in the lead up to the 2019-2020 NBL season such as…

• For the Adelaide 36ers, does Deshon, Dan and Kev bring the much needed defensive intensity to balance the offensive firepower they’ve been over the past five seasons?
• For the Brisbane Bullets, can Lemanis balance the front court and back court rotations and finally unlock the key to unleashing the full potential of Nathan Sobey?
• For the Cairns Taipans, can the young talent play a brand of basketball under Mike Kelly that brings fans through the doors and keep any potential poachers from other clubs at bay so they can build a new core for the next half decade?
• For the Illawarra Hawks, we know its all about Lamelo Ball but are the next generation of Boomers also emerging out of one of the most exciting youthful lineups in the league and can coach Matt Flinn keep them motivated?
• For Melbourne United, will we see as reported the full force of Melo Trimble and Casey Prather as the most damaging import duo of the league?
• For South East Melbourne Phoenix, how much of Mitch Creek’s DNA regardless of whether he’s in Timberwolves gear by seasons end with be imprinted on a list that can make finals immediately in their first season? Further to this how much are we looking forward to Creek going to another level this season?
• For the New Zealand Breakers, regardless of list how will RJ Hampton go in our league this year and as Liam Santamaria said, are we all sleeping on the Breakers?
• For the Perth Wildcats, do we accept that they are a lock for finals regardless of list considering history or once again are we going to predict them just missing only to prove us wrong again?
• For the Sydney Kings, is this the year they finally take the next big step under new coach Will Weaver and win the whole thing or will they not live up to potential yet again?

And lastly, what will Tasmania’s next NBL team take the form of???

I can’t wait to dive deep into these questions along with the other writers at And The Foul.Net this season, so please follow along here for all my NBL articles for 2019-2020.

Website: https://andthefoul.net/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andthefoulnet/

 

The transformation of Mitch Creek from country basketball player to the NBA also bookends the end of one of my chapters in my life

I’m not sure even to this day why exactly I stopped producing the content I’d been churning out for the last few years on a whirlwind journey of what its like to taste a dream at the top to then have the very thing happen perhaps we all fear, a lack of control of our future. My years as a volunteer journalist for the sport I love was a culmination of study of a special interest that has always been my catalyst for sharing with others that if you have something you really want to do, then no matter where you are at life, spend even a small amount of time nurturing and caring for that craft, my mistake has been to drop it completely I’ve realised.

As my parents and people would know of my growing up, once I hit NBL basketball as an interest in the mid 1990’s I have never looked back. I am thankful to my Father Trevor for taking me to games week in and week out to see players that I now have the pleasure of still seeing from time to time around the SA Basketball scene including Brett Maher, Kevin Brooks and Steve Breheny for example. Not only that did I learn to study the game from a technical point of view, but my interest has always been the presentation of a game, the look, the feel, taking a small moment on court and turning it into a story of a moment. I think back to two seasons ago and the game two win in Perth to get us into our first Grand Finals since 2013, although the story didn’t finish the way I wanted it to for so many people I’d done a chapter of my life with, “Miracle on Swan River” remains one of my favourite stories to tell (You can read it by clicking here). That moment when I wrote that article about that game how much my writing was not just about telling a story of a basketball match but also the joy it gave people for the way it was written.

This same joy I love to echo in all my facets of anything I do, you’ll see this passion surface in my work with SA Church Basketball, the National Baptist Carnival down to my youth facilitating and mentoring at my workplaces. Many people do come to me and say how am I managing it all, my response to them is that “I’m trusting in Jesus, he knows me and knows my path, plan and what’s ahead.” As with most of us sometimes we feel we have to give away completely who we were created to be to fit into the jigsaw puzzle of life challenges we all deal with daily.

To juggle everything else both professionally and personally I stopped working on my craft of sports journalism thinking this is what others around me wanted to do, I did so willingly understanding that if I did then more of my story ahead would be revealed. This was cause those things I cared about very deeply and was willing to say I’ll step away from my personal passion to step into different kinds of joy giving. To write with guile is a professional skill and as a passionate sport journalist, I refuse to match what we see as a practice daily of creating a story from a negative or sensationalised piece of slandering news but rather create the story we all crave to hear daily. Ones of truth, elevation of a team or individuals achievement, the respectful nature of that we have the privilege to be able to share these athletes adventure both as spectators and as writers of their journey. Ironically the guile of writing style I have has been a blessing from the Lord for me as I’ve needed it to come to terms with decisions I’ve made in my life not have not been easy as well as realisation of myself as a person.

I have come to realise that sometimes no matter how much you sacrifice, change or rejig your life, there will always be factors and things beyond your control. This hit me like a freight train when I was asked to run my first ever faith based elective around Sport and Faith. I touched on three elements of the sporting life but also described that these things all biblically built as principles what we can control, what we can influence and what what we must adapt to. I realise I can control where I decide to put my time, effort and joy into but know through this I can influence others with my approach, my attitude and my approach to life daily. The day I stopped writing I realise I lost one of my abilities to be able to influence others the way I had been stepped on that journey by the Lord and as a result perhaps as most people know I lost the key thing that had been my gifting from the Lord and in no way manufactured by myself, I lost hope.

When hope leaves your life it is devastating, it has a tsunami like effect that engulfs you fully. When you have given it your all and poured so much time, effort and pain into things, relationships and life and it still isn’t enough its devastating. Over the time I stopped writing I realised this is not the end of my story and even though things remain in a “end of Empire Strikes Back” state, it is the end of a chapter of my life. There have been losses where I know I have had some control, some influence and also needed to adapt to and its been the single hardest lesson of life I have ever done. Out of that emerged finally what I have longed to know deep down for so long, was my identity truly laid in Christ after everything that has happened?

We never know until we have lost all our hope where the hope truly lies.

And doesn’t a good story keep its readers on the edge, what happened next tomorrow…