The concept of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, as outlined in the New Testament, is a profound testament to the intricate and transcendent relationship between humanity and the divine. These gifts are not merely symbolic tokens; they are transformative powers that enable individuals to transcend their ordinary limitations and align themselves with a higher purpose. To truly grasp the magnitude of these gifts, one must delve into their biblical foundations and understand their psychological and spiritual implications. In 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, the Apostle Paul provides a detailed enumeration of these gifts: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish betwee...
It's almost the time of year when the Waratah Junior League is about to start. Finally, Covid 19 seemingly is gone and we can now all go back to participating in our favourite basketball junior league, the Waratah Junior Leagues.
Preseason had just started like 3 weeks ago and it is great to see basketball finally back. But along with the good, some red flags are also rearing its ugly head this early on. Basketball New South Wales should do something about this as this will adversely affect the junior league if left uncheck.
BNSW and its member associations I think, overall, have done a great job but there a few things that I want to nitpick and complain about. First, some real talents will be missed out as playing representative basketball is only for those who can afford the fees. Can BNSW regulate the fees each association is charging and should they consider expanding or continuing the Hoop Dreams program so it opens the doors for kids who are really talented but have no means to paying these fees? Some associations are charging 100% more than other associations.
Look, I know of one big association that is charging only $700 and know of a medium sized association charging approximately $1500 for roughly the same number of games. Can BNSW look into this on why there's such a huge discrepancy? Or at least, can you require these associations to be transparent and give parents a summary or a breakdown of expenses? I can understand that one association is charging less because they will be opting to play lesser games meaning not participate on external tournaments such as the Nunawading tournament in Melbourne and John Martin Country Tournaments.
But what really gets my ghoulies are abusive daddy coaches who makes the games revolve around their kids. The bigger associations are less guilty of this as they have the luxury of getting good quality coaches who don't have any kids in the lineups hence providing a fair environment for your kids. The North Sydney Bears, the Sydney Comets, the Penrith Panthers and the Hills Hornets are those big associations that most likely to discourage daddy coaches in their teams. To be fair to a few, there are a handful of daddy coaches who are fair and some who have kids that are really good but most often, we see some associations allow and tolerate certain daddy coaches who are very biased towards their kids. If your kids happen to play for one, just get ready to pack up a lot of patience because the bias will be very obvious specially if your kid plays the same position as the coach's kid. I wish that Basketball New South Wales will be able to tighten this a little bit more specially the small to medium associations where this is most rampant.
So before I end this rant of an article, for now, my advise to parents is that they let their kids opt for the bigger associations as much as possible. You are gonna part with your hard-earned dollars and you are going to invest a lot of time for practices and for the actual games so might as well be on a team that offers your child the best chance of fairness as possible. What I mean by that that is your child is given the fairest opportunity to earn for his playing minutes because most situations with daddy coaches won't give you that unfortunately as the playing style will be rigged to fit their kids. I have heard of one kid who became a multiple time team MVP and those times, the dad was the coach. That kid was good but he wasn't MVP level though. There's also a team where 4 of the kids playing are kids of daddy coaches and they don't care if they play in the lowest division, they only care that they get maximum playing minutes and I weep for the kids and parents in this team and are outside their circle because they will have 14 weeks of seeing these kids play in lieu of other deserving kids including yours just because they have daddy coaches.