(SitNews) Klawock, Alaska - There isn’t any new advice out there, though the ever-growing self-help sections at bookstores and online websites would like to us to believe differently.

It’s all recycled and decorated with hip, new examples. I heard a bunch of great stuff in grade school and college. Great quotes worth sharing from great and not so great people. The truth is I’ve liked so many more quotes than I’ve used or applied. The reason is probably the speaker. People make the quote.

Though no one is the perfect example, the best quotes are from those with words they struggle to live. That is, they do better than most at attempting to stitch those words to their soul rather than merely post them as a hashtag.

I wondered what professional basketball player and Ketchikan High School graduate, Damen Bell-Holter would say to the kids at the basketball camp he hosted in Craig.

He stood in front of 19 kids at half court at the end of the day and told them about character, reputation and to write down goals before chasing them. He didn’t brag about what he had done, he gave kids words. The invisible, intangible recipe of a good life which outlive the speaker.

Among other things, he told kids clad in everything from low tops to Lebron’s to “never stop chasing it”. He didn’t mean just basketball because he knows you can’t water your feet and end up 6-foot 9, 245 pounds like he is.

Kids are good at seeing through people, swishing the advice then spitting: “Well, if that’s true, what happened to you?”

That’s not Damen. People doubted him. Told him he was all hype and he wouldn’t make it because Hydaburg is too small, he’s not good enough or he’d party it away.
But since he arrived to play basketball at Oral Roberts University he’s been given jerseys (including one which reads “Celtics”) in which to play. He’s not custom ordering them to wear while watching from the couch.

That certainly broadens the audience of flaw-seekers, but also gives him legitimacy in the eyes of kids. Still, not every teenager sitting on the gym floor went home, wrote down goals and will change their lives as a result of his message. Some will stay motivated for a while, then fall off. It’s human nature. But a few might follow through. A few got the words they needed to fuel their journey, to change the generational direction of their entire family perhaps. Maybe they’ll cite Damen, or maybe someone else along the way will say what Damen said in a new way and keep the kid moving.

As an adult, you hope it clicks. Kids have been force-fed advice and know it applies to their lives, but there’s a decided difference between knowing what’s best for you and following through.

“No matter where you end up, it’s all on you.”

In a time of excuses, cinematic protagonists rank with apathy, and funny posts about laziness, it’s refreshing anytime you hear that.

Damen hopes he ends up in the NBA. He has some leads for potential pre-season opportunities, but if it doesn’t come to fruition, he’ll head to Europe, probably Germany like last year before the Celtics, and later the NBA Developmental League called.

If he never sees the floor of a regular season NBA basketball game, at the absolute least, he will have seen more of the world than most, have lived out the hoop dream longer than the vast majority of kids with them, have had four years of education at a major university, and been, as his camp is named, “Blessed 2 Bless.” That’s a positive legacy to which more should aspire.

While attending the University of Arizona I saw that sports, especially football and basketball, had turned guys into self-absorbed jerks. I saw the same happen in the 10 years I was a high school basketball coach in California.

As a society we like to point out faults or perceived hypocrisy in those who speak up - to shake our heads at someone when he or she provides fodder for judgement. So people give in and live with no discernible standards so they can’t be held accountable.

Yet there are plenty of those who are willing to struggle and work at those words.

Damen has to know he’s inviting ridicule and scrutiny by saying what he does. But it matters less how he ends up and more what happens to the 500 or so kids at the 10 camps around Alaska and British Columbia he’ll have spoken to by the end of the summer. They might not know where Damen ends up, but hopefully they’ll remember what he said.

I don’t pretend to know Damen or that we’re tight because we're friends on social media. What I do know is there’s truth in his message. You don’t have to be an impressionable kid to recognize good advice when you hear it, and respect someone willing to dispense it.

Jeff Lund ©2014

Jeff Lund is a Teacher, Freelance Writer, & River fishing guide (Tranquil Charters) living in Klawock, Alaska
Contact Jeff at Email – aklund21@gmail.com

http://www.jlundoutdoors.com

SitNews ©2014
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