When a father is needed

“You know I could of played for Wales” my dad tells me, I’m not sure how true that is but there is no doubt my dad is a proud Welshman. His roots certainly run deep into the valleys of Wales and the game he loved to play, you guessed it, rugby. Unfortunately, a back problem cut his dream short and has had to put up with it for the rest of his life. I don’t think he regrets playing though and still loves to cheer on the mighty welsh. Despite not being able to play anymore he was able to focus on becoming the great father I know him to be.

I never take for granted what my dad has done for me and it saddens me to hear of the stories of young people growing up without a father figure. I believe that this is something desperately needed by every young boy and believe my dad has certainly helped shape me into the person I am today. He was always someone who would give me the advice I needed to hear or the encouraging word to keep persevering and staying strong when times got tough or doubts crept into my mind. One of my most vivid memories is when I was younger I was playing in the park, fell over and cut my knee. I cried out in agony, even though it probably wasn’t that bad but I was young and wanted the attention. I remember seeing my dad running as fast as he could to see if I was ok and picked me up, took me home and made sure I was ok. That set the bar for what my dad was like for the rest of my childhood, whenever I had a problem he would put other things to the side for me.

My dad was all I could ever ask for, a friend, a mentor and most importantly a loving father. The reality of this world has opened my eyes to the fact not every young boy had the father they needed in their life. I love how God is described as a father and the amazing statement he said to Jesus when he got baptised ‘And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’ Mark 1:11. We think of God in many different ways but never forget God as a father who loves you and will run towards you when you call out for him.

Dodgeball Tournament April 2013

Just over a month ago we ran our first inaugural Onside Ministries dodgeball tournament and it didn’t disappoint. We had six teams ready to prove their worth on the dodgeball field. Some of the teams really dressed up for the occasion with one team sporting some matching red vests and head bands, another consisting of the MVP of the tournament in a tiger onesie and a leprechaun ready for war while I managed to put on my basketball gear for the occasion. Other teams went for the standard look but certainly came to play.

So once the teams turned up probably not knowing what to expect we explained the rules, as demonstrated by my sister and Mr Kennard. Once the teams had a somewhat understanding of the rules (next time I’m going to really read up on them) we started off with the games. The music kept playing to keep the atmosphere pumped up and we were ready. One of the first teams that really wanted to establish their presence, especially with the matching vests, was Dodge This! They certainly bought a team of men who were here to win (while posing for pictures) and they didn’t disappoint and came top of the tree with the most wins and moved on to the semi-finals. The 5 D’s were another team that came to play, these guys really came to play with a certain Josh Kennard nearly taking someone’s head clean off when throwing a dodgeball only just hitting the wall instead of someone’s face (that would have been unfortunate), lucky boy! These guys only lost one game getting to the semi-finals, which was to my team I just like to mention, but they worked hard and had some great ball throwers!

The two team’s that travelled the furthest really stepped up to make themselves known to, HTC from Claygate, Surrey bought a great team with a mix of ages and certainly had two of the best dressed dodge ballers on the day. The tiger chants certainly came out for the star of the team when he came up with some superb blocking and cat like reactions to stay out the way of the oncoming balls. The Jammy Dodgers from the Surrey area, including some work colleagues of mine from Compassion, had a good mix bag of players and were a bit unfortunate in some of the losses. These guys had the biggest journey to make with the others being local to Worthing but certainly was appreciated and were a big part of the day.

Occupy Ball Street, headed up by my super sister Rachel, did have another good mixed team and with the late addition of my friend Nat due to one of her players having to drop out due to an injury (sustained at the Brighton marathon, not through dodgeball just to point out). Again very unlucky with the losses and did unfortunately come last but they did beat my team so my sister has bragging rights on those grounds, till next time. My band of dodge ballers consisted of photographer of the day Naomi (pictures are amazing), my fellow basketball playing friend Jez and his mate Rob and ultimate competitor and all round good guy Jeremy Rolph (see below picture). Apart from the game where I forgot my own rule when you are not allowed to throw a ball once you have grabbed it from the middle and must retreat before throwing it I think we played pretty well.

It came down to a joint 3^rd to 5^th place for two places in the semi-finals to play The 5 D’s and Dodge This. HTC, JD Ballers and Jammy Dodgers had to play each other again in a quick two minute game and would you have guessed we all won one game. It had to come down to players difference to separate the teams and how many still remained on the dodgeball court at the end of the game. This meant that my team lost out, which was a real shame but was happy to see how the semi-finals with Dodge This vs HTC and The 5 D’s vs Jammy Dodgers. There was an intermission at this point where some of the children who were watching had a go but obviously it was all supervised and glad they were able to take part.

The first semi-final turned out to be a surprise as HTC beat Dodge This and this was the upset of the day. Was a great team effort and managed to get the big guns out early and worked from there. The next match turned out to be a little bit more one sided as the dominant D’s managed to put away the dodgers despite the valiant effort. It then went to the final where the local boys The 5 D’s took on the out-of-towners HTC. It went down to the best of three series and despite a close start, the D’s had too much fire power and beat HTC in the series 2-0.

The presentation then followed in which ‘Dodge This’ won best dressed with the matching attire of red vests and headbands, the man simply known as ‘The Tiger’ won best dodge baller and won his very own dodgeball and finally ‘The Five D’s’ won some chocolate’s and a stack of DVD’s for being the winners of the first Onside Ministries Dodgeball Tournament.

Overall. I felt it was a great event and echoed by a number of the participants. Thank you to all the teams who took part and the journeys you made to make it a great day. Was fantastic to see some supporters come along to and cheer on their respective teams to and really added to the atmosphere. Certainly the event couldn’t of been done without Paul and Tim who kept the whole thing organised and games in order. Josh Kennard for helping set up the event and use of the van he borrowed and bringing some teams along, we talked about how it would be great to see a dodgeball tournament in Worthing and glad we could make it happen. My girlfriend Nisha for helping out with the odd jobs and taking pictures and not forgetting Naomi for all her great camera work to.

We would love to see this happen again so and raise more money for our charity so please let me know if you feel you would be interested in playing sometime in September and if you have four other willing players to come along and enjoy the beautiful game of dodgeball. More events to come soon and an exciting announcement should be coming up in the next few months……

Construction of a great tower: The Blueprint



I will be honest; I never won any trophies for being the best player or the best worker in class, as like the many other young people in their school days. I never had a hidden talent or skill that could be mastered for excellence, which can be quite frustrating though as a young person who wanted to be great at something. I think many children these days see the talented sports people, singers, writers, actors and say that looks great but really don’t have the belief or ability to get there.

Even my favourite sport Basketball, I rarely got on the team in High School because I was too small and just didn’t quite cut it. I was seen as someone who didn’t have the ability to play the game despite my work rate and enthusiasm, just not the right look for a Basketball player I guess. For one thing I wore the biggest glasses you could purchase back in my school days so that probably never helped gain the trust of a coach that I had what it takes. I remember some of my friends being in the team telling the coach I wanted to play. The coach said I could play in an upcoming friendly high school tournament and I was pretty excited and nervous at the same time, but knew I needed to take this chance. We were playing the host school and in one offensive play I got the ball, rotated on one foot and no one was marking me. So it was just me and the net, took the shot and made it. That was a real moment of triumph for me, not a team triumph perhaps because we were probably losing anyway but that was a statement saying I can play, I can do it! Coach congratulated me on the basket and from then on I knew it was possible to become better.

So it’s not like my career in Basketball took off but college was around the corner and the guys where only getting bigger, faster and tougher. The first year I failed to make the team, which was again another rejection that hurt like every other one but I worked hard during that year with a set of coaches who were formerly part of the Brighton Bears Basketball Club, a very successful team in its years within the British Basketball League. I went to these Basketball sessions every Saturday for three hours and picked up a lot from these experienced coaches. I got equipped in how to play the game and went to a couple of the holiday camps they did to. The year went by and I trialled for the College team again, I felt I impressed the coach at the time and later on found out I got picked to be in the squad. It was a great feeling after all the work and practice I put in. Through the guidance and coaching I got I was a much better player, sometimes someone needs to focus your enthusiasm and work rate so you can become more effective. I may have not been the best player by a long way but I did feel great, greatness felt attainable.

In the bible it talks about the importance of strong foundations laid so great things can be done:

“Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” – Luke 6: 47-49

I feel my foundations were set when I got given the right guidance by my coaches and the support of my Dad throughout was also very important that I will go into on a future blog. I kept working hard and taught how to play the game correctly through the learning the fundamentals well and that’s what made me a better player. Not only did Basketball give me skills to use on the court but to use off it to, it can build the three C’s courage, confidence and communication, all very important on the court and whatever else you may choose to pursue in life. William Arthur Ward said ‘We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them, climb over them or build with them’. So the obstacles put in our way or the rejections that we face can be used to make or break you.

What is it you want to pursue?

What obstacles get in your way?

Do you find yourself complaining about them or doing something about it?

What do you think God can do through a setback in your life?

The next blog we will start building our tower, the foundations first of course. These include attitude, friendship, faith and values. Tweet @xoverbasketball to give me answers to the questions I have included above. Look forward to seeing you next time and let’s pursue greatness together….  



New year, new goals!

Happy 2013 everybody!

Well what a year it was in 2012, it has been an interesting first year for Cross-Over with many plans ahead and hopes for the future! After the incredible trip me (being Jamie, Hi!), Dan, Paul and our man in India Churchill, we have felt inspired by the incredible people we have met in Uganda and hope to go back and visit soon after the great coaching and ministry sessions out there. The Lilly Orphanage we worked with will be moving very soon to a new building, with a lot more space, which is all very exciting and Aimee who overlooks it all will be going out this month to make sure it all goes nice and smoothly. I have made a donation to the orphanage so Aimee will be able to buy some of the children we worked with some trainers and use some of the money to hire out the Basketball court so they can still continue to play and enjoy all that Basketball has to offer! Will keep you all posted how it goes out there.

So what is the plan? What way are we moving in 2013? Well I have felt inspired by John Wooden who put together a Pyramid of Success. A Christian man who won 10 NCAA titles, basically a man who knew how to coach. He put together fundamental areas that he believes led to his team's success in a pyramid, he believed these building blocks could be used not just on the court but in life to. This is something we want to put into the projects of Cross-Over! You can find out all the information about the pyramid on http://www.coachwooden.com/

I believe these areas are the way that can develop young people further. If we educate them on each area and how to live by these characteristics then we can build hope for the young people we work with and equip them to be game changers in the future within their communities. We are going to try out a few sessions with Feltham Basketball Club in Middlesex who I coach with currently. Through rewarding them getting to each level we hope to really engage with the players and to not only play with the pyramid in mind but also conducting themselves off the court in the same way! It will focus around theree areas, class room based exercises so they can learn what each building block means and how to apply it, develop this building block through Basketball training sessions and build that attribute through a challenge set to them that they need to complete within a certain time frame. Very excited about this and hope it can produce great results and challenge young Basketball players to become all rounded individuals.

Also, this year we are hoping to do another Basketball tournament in the Univeristy of Sussex, in which we had the first one last November, which was a great success and due to the demand by the students we will be doing a couple more this year. We are planning on a dodgeball tournamount this year to down in Worthing and Surrey in April 2013 so if you are interested please let me know and you could be the next Peter Le Fleur (Dodgeball movie reference)! Lots of fun things ahead, could be thinking of the first Cross-Over Basketball summer camp in the UK.

Big plans ahead and I heard that reality is a product of our dreams, decisions and actions so let's make this happen! Anybody want to contact me @JamieGlencross on Twitter and let me know your thoughts you beautiful people, ideas, catch up, constructive criticism, I am all ears!

Blessings to all and keep the support coming #TheCrossOver

The Reflection

So it’s a bit overdue but I thought it would be appropriate to try and sum up Cross-over’s trip to Kampala. There are some observations that I did make about my time there that I thought would be worth sharing:

-          The kids were like sponges, they just wanted to know more about what we were teaching them in regards to Basketball and wanted to do it right.

-          The small pile of letters I had from some of the children made it all worthwhile, their thankfulness and appreciation was so heart-warming.

-          The kids loved watching Churchill falling over so we made it a bit of a theme through the skits we did.

-          Dan thought he had malaria; he was given vitamin pills, panic over, great to share the journey with him though.

-          A weird doll got snuck into our luggage by one of our fellow Compassion colleague’s, not sure what ever happened to the doll but think we accidently donated it in a bag to one of the football groups.

-          Pot holes are a real nightmare on the roads in Kampala and if you think traffic in England is bad then visit Kampala.

-          Driving along the road and it’s a rare sight to see another white person let alone to see a John Mayer look-a-like with a guitar round his shoulders coming out of a shop.

-          A child from the orphanage called Alex doesn’t mind telling you what he is thinking, said that Churchill needed more food as he was bigger, awkward but funny to!

-          Decided I was going to pretend to throw Alex in this boggy area next to the football pitch, he didn’t go in but my foot did, ruined trainer.

-          Uganda football team have the chance to make the Africa Cup of Nations if they win beat Zambia on the 13^th October, been around 30 years since they last made the competition. COME ON UGANDA!!

-          Paul had the nick name ‘Chipala’ which apparently meant bald, kind of stuck with him for the rest of the trip.

-          Dan got some of the kids to call me J Dog while I got some of the kids to call him Handsome Dan, some of the letters that we received did greet us with these names, although Jimmy was another popular way for the kids to spell my name!

-          After the run in with the traffic officer due to one of our drivers being involved in an accident it ended up having to be dealt with there and then with our driver giving money to the other driver for his busted light. Whatever you do don’t try and make friends with the traffic officer as Churchill found, for some reason he got insulted and nearly ended up taking the license away from our driver.

-          Mzungo is a word that will follow you wherever you go.

-          Me and Churchill loved the food we had at the orphanage, Paul and Dan not so much, fuss pots!

-          Me, Aimee and Dan sat at a table in a revolving restaurant for a whole 2 minutes before deciding it was too expensive, kind of cool though!

-          The kids love to win competitions, there was a song that basically went ‘We are the winners’ and sparked massive celebrations, which even the kids that lost joined in with, fun times!

-          I was very impressed with the team’s acting skills in the skits, found the kids really responded to it and they took a real interest in what we were trying to show.

-          Sport Ministry is an incredibly effective tool and long may it continue to thrive across the world.

What a trip and despite coming back with a case of man flu I loved the experience we had. Just to see the kid’s appreciation and then trying their hardest in whatever we asked them to do was motivating to us. The kits that where donated I’m sure will get great use out of by the number of football projects already up and running. The coaches that help run these projects are inspiring people and even though their situations and circumstances are not easy they still want to give back. Thought it be worth ending with a great bible quote that I once again came across in the book I’m reading:

Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go

.” (Joshua 1:6-7, 9)

I lover the assurance of this passage, you can probably tell already but the words ‘strong’ and ‘courageous’ are the key words and I feel I have met a lot people in Uganda that have had to demonstrate this on a daily basis. Let us do everything in the faith that God will be there by our side and do it will full confidence that he will work in any situation we are in. Let's do it with the full cofidence can make things happen.

Just to end I thought I share what one of the children from the orphanage shared in her letter to me that made me understand how important this ministry is:

Thank you for training us in Basketball, you have developed our talents. Some of us have hope in Basketball, Football, Studies and the Gospel. Thank you for preaching us the word of God. You used wonderful parables and I really liked them and I also still need them. I have accepted Jesus as my personal saviour as he died on the cross for our sins. May the Lord Jesus be with with you everywhere you go 

Thank you so much for reading the Uganda trip blog, don’t worry I will still be putting up the odd blog to keep you posted about all that’s going on with Cross Over. We have an event running at the University of Sussex in November which I am very excited about, including a lecturers vs students game. We shall be looking to put a lovely website together soon so it can help keep you guys engaged in what we are doing and the possibility of a trip to Chennai, India next year. Will keep you posted…..

Uganda: Days 8-9

So here we are, our final days in Uganda and it has been very good how we have rounded up this trip. We started Day 8 with my final Basketball session with Lilly Orphanage! I have had so much fun with these guys and have been very good listeners and hope they will continue to work on what I have taught them as there are some talented players there. We ended the session with a devotional that looked at not being tempted by the devil and following Jesus. It went very well with Churchill playing the person choosing which way to go, Dan as the devil and me as Jesus (big boots to fill). Most important thing was that the children really seem to understand the drama we did. I was also able to hand out bags to the eight people I thought worked the hardest in training, it was very tough but it was good to reward the children that really took on what I coached and hope that will spur them on to continue to train.

We then later went to Luteete in which we linked with one of the churches there and again we had no nets and the children where very young. Despite this still managed to do some dribbling and passing drills with a little help from one of the teachers to translate, teach them young. They all had beaming smiling faces and where very cute. We even had a chance to play some of their games including getting into a particular number of people and I even got to pretend to be a crocodile, happy days, it was part of the game by the way! Onside Soccer also donated a lot of kit to the church and they where very thankful as you would expect. Managed to have a play on the drums in the church building which was a bit of a surprise, kids love a good beat as I could tell by their dancing along, think all Ugandans are born with some sort of rhythm. The church building was very nice though and we are thinking of building a Basketball court but cost will tell if this can happen.

Our final day included a football tournament in the morning, it was very well put together with six teams taking part. The kids where really into it and wanted to win the trophy. Had a chance to share the devotional before the final game and it was the same one as mentioned before in this blog. Again, think we where really able to communicate the message across. The final went down to penalties in the end and it was Arsenal who won (gave them internationally well know club team names), very happy with the trophy and they hope to continue it annually. After the tournament we had our final visit to Lilly, it was sad to say bye to these kids who we had built such great friendships with. Had a couple of photos together with the children which I will put up soon. Had a little game of Basketball with some of them and just said goodbyes and wishing them all the best, with some of them asking if we will come back and I really hope we do. We did leave some Basketballs so they can continue to practice while I'm away. The icing on the cake was some letters written by the children thanking us and wishing us so many blessings. It was so amazing to receive these letters and I will treasure them for the rest of my life, even had one written for my mum, so sweet, sure she will look forward to reading it!

So we leave tomorrow and don't worry I am going to wrap it all up with one more blog, once again was  reading my book Wild at Heart and this popped out which was said by Winston Churchill in regards to World War 2:

I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life has been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial 

We are all destined for something, let us never forget that, lets look our lives and understand what God has made us to be. One more blog to come, thanks for joining me on this journey.

Uganda: Days 5-7

So we are coming close to the end of our super Ugandan journey. It has been a very tiring with the super warm weather here, despite it being their winter but certainly an enjoyable and rewarding one. We started off Day 5 with more training with the Lilly Orphanage; they all seem to really look forward to the training and continue to practice the skills even outside the training sessions, which you got to love as a coach. We did similar drills as before but also added a few more competitions including a one on one game where we call out a number and it’s the first to score. Great to see some of the high fives come out from the kids whenever someone on their team does well. We did end up playing games in the end which where a lot more organised than the previous sessions and more of them are using the skills in the game.  We ended with another devotional which included Churchill being robbed and then pushed to the floor, me and Paul just walked by while Dan picked him up. You guessed, it was showing the parable of the Good Samaritan while Dan explained the importance of kindness and helping others. Had a bit of fun with the group making them do random sounds and got them all striking the Bolt pose, no camera at hand though, will have to try and get them to do it again. The rest of the day was one of rest and re-collection of the events of the week. Very much enjoying time with Paul, Dan, Aimee and Churchill. Great people all with massive hearts for helping others and have fantastic personalities, been a pleasure and an honour to serve with them all. Paul has got a new nickname by the way, the kids kept saying a word which is pronounced ‘chipala’ which means bald, sorry Paul Chipala Harbinson.

 

Day 6 is where I donned the Onside Soccer gear, very much football focused today with Cross-Over basketball having the weekend off. We started off with attending a football academy for kids who live in the slum area of Kampala, one of the poorest parts in the city. We could see it was so well organised and we where able to donate a brand new kit and some Christian resources, of course it was very well received. The coaches where incredible communicators and concentrate on teaching them good values as well as football skills. We did a drill for the kids that went down well and it was a competition between four teams, any point they gained sparked a lot of shouting and jubilation. Was great to meet some of the kids, had a few quick games of thumb wars which I taught them and a lot of them wanted to give me a game but unfortunately not enough time to go round all of them. The afternoon we went to do some more coaching with the Lilly Orphanage and the Crane school in which again new kit was donated and for one of the teams it was the first proper kit they had. Saw some of the people who I was teaching Basketball to in the week and they where still practising the drills despite the lack of nets at the pitch we where at. Was able to do another devotion which involved Churchill again falling over (he likes doing that) when playing a blind man and Dan catching him (always playing the good part). This was to show how we need to put faith in God even though we can’t see him. Again it seemed to go well and Churchill shared the story of Abraham with the help of a translator. Had a bit of time playing around with the kids and chatting to them while they tried to teach me Lugandan. A cheeky little kid from the orphanage called Alex was throwing a ball at my head so I thought I scare him a little by pretending to throw in the boggy area, unfortunately I slipped a little when pretending and Alex was fine but one of my feet went into the bog, ruined trainer, whoops!!

 

Today was a day of rest and we went to a big church that some of you might heard of called Watoto church. Went with Dan, Aimee, Michael (one of the drivers from the orphanage, great guy) and two of the kids from the orphanage called Tadeo and Ritah. It was very good and the preach was all about the hope of Uganda for the future as it has been 50 years since the independence of the country. It had a very much Hillsong theme to the service but it was great to see such hope preached for the future and the Ugandan people responding to it. We then later went to the craft market to do a bit of souvenir shopping which has led to me being completely broke, can pretty much only afford two big bottles of water, have to rely on the generosity of my team now but I think I will get by. We then went to Spur, something familiar, had a steak sandwich which tasted so good and even got to watch the Man United v Liverpool game, sloppy win but it will do.

Just a final thought that came from the preach today at the church I went to, it was used in my video for my 1000 free throw challenge but thought it be worth saying again by some Basketball player called Michael Jordan:

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”

 

Let's always look to make things happen and not rely on others to act on our behalf, we all have the ability to make some positive change. Not long now till the end of our fantastic time here but keep an eye out for the last blog and thank you for all your prayers so far, keep it up......