Skip to main content

My Journey to Division One

What a week! I don't even know where to start. It seems like I am watching a movie about me.
All I keep thinking about is my Basketball years in Burundi. I will explain why.

I started playing Basketball at a relatively young age (I won't tell you the year, but I was about
12 years old). My classmates would teach me the fundamentals of thegame, and years later we started our own team. It was so much fun. I was not among the best players but I hung in there.

I remember spending an entire summer working out in a gym with my friends, getting ready for
the new season. We would run long distances on Saturdays and at that time I was among the best runners (I couldn't beat Patrick our captain who was running like crazy). Did I mention that we were still playing in Division two? ( the Junior division).

After our second season (the first one was a disaster lol), we started getting better. Still playing in Division two, our captain was selected to represent our country with the Senior National Basketball Team (that how good he
was). They spent a month in the US playing with College Basketball teams. We were so excited for him.

When he came back from the US, he mentioned to us (with a few other players) that he was done
playing for Division Two. His experience with the National Team was enough for him to start playing with the big boys. It was quite understandable but I was devastated to see him go.

I stayed in Division Two for one more season (I wasn't that good), until I finished high school. I decided to join the University team the next season. This was Division A. Was I ready? Not really. But I took my chance and decided
to work hard for my spot. Was it hard? I wanted to give up every single day. I wanted to go back to the Junior team at the end of each practice. Was I still among the best at running? By the time I arrived, all the other players were already rested. Did I get a chance to play? I was not even on the playing list my entire first season. That how hard it was.

I hung in there though.Eventually I got my spot...on the bench. I played for the University team for the next three season, ended up being their Head Coach for one season before starting coaching “Les Gazelles”, a ladies team that I led to 15 trophies in 7 years (standing ovation for me please...).

Why did I tell you all of this? Just to let you know what a great coach I was. Just kidding..


All I know is that, I would not have been a good Basketball coach if I hadn't gone through all
the “struggle” learning how to play, or spending most of the time on the bench. Life has a way of teaching us lessons that are not very comfortable for us at the time that they are happening, but at the
end, we always win if (and only if) we don't give up.

Yes, this last week was a week to remember for me as my wife finally landed to Toronto, but it
was also a week of growth as well. Growth is always outside of our comfort zone, but it is necessary if we want to go from Division Two to Division One in life. The best is yet to come. That is the truth.

Moral of the story? Do you want to win big in life? Just be the last in running and you will be
a great Basketball coach. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!



Always a pleasure

Patrick
The Journeyman
patrick@goalachieverscanada.com
www.goalachieverscanada.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Journey to Orillia

We drove a little bit late at night. I had been to this place called Orillia before, but it was about ten years ago. I didn’t remember much about it, other than it was beautiful. Here we were on the road, and there was not much we could see, except a signal on the highway that said “beware of cattle”. We thought it was funny.   By the time we arrived at the hotel, it was almost midnight. I went straight to bed. We had to wake up early in the morning as breakfast was scheduled to be served a six O’clock. There was no way I was going to miss out.‎ You may be wondering what was happening in Orillia. I am glad you asked. A number of months ago, Paul, my business partner, got this brilliant idea, and once he shared it with me I was totally on board. He realized that for us to do what we wanted to do, we must work with partners. These may be service providers, or simply other business owners with goals similar to ours. Paul decided to go out and attend different netwo...
1 comment
Read more

My Journey to my wedding

Where do I start? I don't really know. As I am waiting for my flight at Kigali airport, with tears in my eyes, I am thinking about the last few days. There are no words that can explain what I have experienced in this month of December 2010. As Phil Collins said, it's another day in paradise. The person who said that words are powerful was so right. It took a few words from my then girlfriend, now wife (are you kidding me!!!!), to start a series of events that led me to this moment. She just said: “Honey, this long distance thing is killing me”. Having been in a couple of long distance relationships, I knew what she meant. This time, it was different. I had to do something, otherwise, this relationship would end up like the other ones. I had promised myself to do whatever it took to make this one work. As I hung up the phone, I thought I had to move mountains. I had to find a way to meet her. Originally, my intention was to visit her in July 2011, however, this felt like a cent...
5 comments
Read more

My Journey with a Bestseller

Two weeks away from writing (among other things) are now enough. I am back to you… I am getting into the podcast listening world and I am really mad at myself. How in the world was I late to the party? There are powerful podcasts out there, and on various subjects. It is like an all-you- can- eat buffet (you know my well-established relationship with food).  Just last week, I was into productivity podcasts and what I learned was so valuable that I now feel I want to turn my life upside down and start everything from scratch (maybe it would be unproductive but it is worth the try). Anyways… I am here to talk about something different. I can now brag and say that I have a bestseller friend. You don’t believe me? Here is the proof: Bonjour Patrick, J'ai écrit le livre "Introverts: Leverage Your Strengths for an Effective Job Search". Il est devenu #1 sur Amazon pendant le premiers 10 heures et a reçu le statut de Bestseller le 1er Juillet That is a...
1 comment
Read more