Basketball Now and Feeding the Hungry Later?

Last year, we had an 8th grade student at my middle school who made comments such as, "I don't need to graduate from high school, my uncle is doing just fine without graduating."  He spent as little time as possible on school work, or for that matter, in class. Everyone loves to do something and this same student who was not motivated in his classes spent most of the spring, starting in February,  working on his Genius Hour project, although he didn't know it by that name.  He knew it as something else--organizing a basketball game. This was not just playing basketball with his friends, but against the teachers at school. The remarkable thing about his effort is this was a game which hadn't been played for many years, so there was no expectation by anyone at school that the game was a guaranteed event.

When he started working on his plan to get the teachers to play the 8th graders in basketball he was told we couldn't play because girls' basketball was using the gym. He tried again after girls' season was over.  Next he was told the game couldn't happen because of wrestling. As the spring progressed he was told no again and again because of  track, teacher meetings, injuries (mostly of teachers) and still he persisted.

http://lc2.boe.loga.k12.wv.us/manhigh/basketball_on_fire_by_felipes4rg-d2yxwdl.jpg

He never wavered in his desire to play the game. On a daily basis, he gave persuasive speeches about why the game should happen to any teacher he thought would play. He created brochures, talked with teachers who coached at our school but taught at other schools, reserved the gym and finally as the school year was about to end, the game was set. He found 10 players to play on each team. He had referees (in official refereeing shirts) and even advertised to get as many people as possible to come and be a part of the game by watching and cheering after school. He did everything short of having media coverage.

The most interesting thing about the whole game wasn't the game itself, it was that if it hadn't been for his grit and an unwavering desire to play the game, he would not have given speeches, written brochures, contacted teachers throughout the district, contacted the office, arranged for someone to bring in referees' uniforms, nor advertised.  I am certain if any teacher asked him to do any of those tasks for class he would have worked hard to find a reason not to. I was as impressed with him as I had been of any student in a long time. He set himself apart from every other student at school who has proposed an idea and was told no by someone.

I realize his willingness to put the school on his back and carry them to the end did not feed or clothe people in Africa, Asia or the Middle East. It didn't even get an NBA player to come to our gym. What it did do was allow him to capitalize on his passion while also developing and practicing skills which most students, including himself, for other reasons, would dread even doing once. How many people would continue when weeks of no's turned into months of being told no by so many people so many times?  And he continued until the event actually happened. One day he may do something that will benefit people throughout the globe because of the skills he learned in organizing this game--all because he didn't say, like so many people with less grit than himself, "Wouldn't that have been great if we had..."

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR7igBz_8GlCsWe0fTHcJuXxBvJ1FxXimP3U_63ejXnkE8vTzMF