Panthers Basketball Season Wrap Up

Aurora, 7, of Price Hill, loves playing basketball.                                                                   

“I like dribbling,” she said.

Aurora recently wrapped up her first basketball season as a Lord’s Gym Ministries Lady Panther.

“I made a lot of friends,” she said, reflecting on the season. “And I learned a lot about God. I learned that God feels happy about me. He thinks I’m brave. I am brave.”

Indeed, Aurora is brave.

Aurora and her family recently moved to Price Hill, and she decided to “be brave” and try out for basketball. It’s a decision she and her family will never regret. Even her dad joined in the fun as a coach for her team.

“I love the neighborhood aspect of this program,” Coach O said. “The Lord’s Gym Ministries sports programs are building community. I also wanted to coach in this program because it’s an opportunity to minister to the kids where I live. That’s unique. It’s a blessing and not something a lot of sports programs do.”

For many of the children on the team, according to Coach O, they are “hearing the Word of God for the first time.”

“That’s rewarding to be a part of,” he said.

Coach Todd Kuramoto, who also serves as a board member for Lord’s Gym Ministries, has coached basketball since the inception of the program 4 years ago, agreed that it is “very rewarding” to be a part of the Price Hil Youth Athletics ministry.

“We played a lot of basketball this season,” he said. “All the girls involved improved considerably on the court and off.”

Coach Todd said that devotionals centered on the fruits of the spirit, something that is “relevant to today’s youth” in many ways.

“We talked a lot about kindness and love,” Coach Todd said. “After our last game, there was a girl who was very distraught. Another girl came up to her and just gave her a nice big hug. Seeing that, considering all that’s going on with the youth in the world… Well, it’s interesting to see that this girl saw the importance of picking others up in their time of need. That’s really something considering this is a group of young people who are known to be very broken themselves. It was a beautiful thing to witness.”

Coach Todd went on to share a quote from Richard Stearns, former president of World Vision United States, an international Christian relief charity. According to Stearns: “God never asks us to give what we do not have . . . But He cannot use what we will not give.”

Coach Todd said he loves being a coach in a sports program that is centered on Jesus.

“I love sports,” he said. “I love to find little ways to lift our kids. There’s so much more to coaching than helping a child get better at a sport. It’s the little things, like big hugs for friends. It’s about God fearing and loving people.”