Basketball Phenom Jabari Parker – The First 18 Years

Basketball Phenom Jabari Parker – The First 18 Years

The name Jabari Parker is well-known in the sports arena. The Chicago-born, 6’8”, 235 pound, all-star athlete will long be remembered for his basketball prowess at Chicago’s Simeon Career Academy. While attending Simeon, he quickly gained the favor of several recruiters, and in fact was a top recruit in the class of 2013, when he became the second player in the history of Illinois high school basketball to start on four state championship teams. After incisive deliberation, he made the decision to play for the Duke University Blue Devils. In an interview with DukeBluePlanet in July 2013, Parker was asked why he chose Duke University to which he responded,

I chose Duke because I thought it was the perfect fit for me.  The student population is very tight.  It’s a family-oriented community.  It’s very nice and diverse and a community that will prepare me for the real-world someday.

The Key Players Who Have Influenced His Basketball Career

Jabari Parker Duke University Blue Devils

During the interview Parker was also asked who his greatest basketball influence is and said,

My greatest influence basketball-wise is probably my father because he played in the NBA and I’m trying to get to where he has been.  He played in college at Texas A&M.  Just seeing what he did in college, I think that he made a real big impact and I’m trying to live up to his expectations and what he did.

He also made several comments about his coach whom he deeply admires and respects:

Being around Coach K, I just want to pick his brain as much as possible.  He has a lot of knowledge, a lot on his resume.  I’m trying to get to where he has been and accomplish at least 25% of what he has done.  His knowledge and love of the game at his age is real rare.  Hopefully I can do half as much for him as he will do for me because that’s going to be a lot.  He’s going to do more than I expect because, you know, he’s Coach K.

What impressed me most about Coach were his experiences and relationships with his players and how he wants them to be a part of the program forever.  He wants them to come back.  That’s real big on my end because it’s a family.

A Humble Giant among Men

Jabari Parker Mormon Duke UniversityAlthough Parker is a basketball phenom, he has not allowed the stardom and recognition to discredit his true character. To understand who the real Jabari Parker is, a person would need understand the things that matter the most to him, namely his family and his faith.

He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and attests that it is his faith that has helped him to remain level headed and well grounded, thus keeping his head in the “real” game. Because of his strong faith and unfailing support from his family, he has been able to accept all of the recognition that he receives with great humility. In the May 21, 2012, issue of Sports Illustrated which had a feature article on Parker, he was quoted as saying, “Basketball is what I do, it’s not who I am.” During the interview with DukeBluePlanet he was asked to elaborate on his comment:

At the end of the day, being a good person is more important than basketball because you are only going to be remembered by what you do and how you carry yourself.  You can be the most amazing athlete in the world, but if you’re not there for people and you’re not there for your community, your family, then what is your worth?  That’s what separates the greatest from the average people.  That little bit of selflessness, that character.  I want to live my life not as Jabari Parker the basketball player, but as Jabari Parker the good guy, the helpful guy.

Staying True to the Home Team

Jabari Parker MormonAlthough Parker has achieved status as an outstanding basketball player and has been afforded many opportunities, he has not forgotten his real roots. He still considers Chicago to always be his home base, as it is there where it all began. He realizes, especially growing up on the South Side of Chicago, that the city is incessantly represented in the news media in a negative light. He has stated that he wants to be that person who helps to shed more light on the positive and help to eliminate the focus on the negativity.

Oh Chicago is the best.  That’s the reason that I am the person that I am now.  The hard-nosed style of basketball that we play around the city is from the community that I represent.  Being from the South Side, I want to make a positive impact as much as possible.  You see on CNN, they talk about the crime rate, there is a lot of negativity.  I want to be as positive an influence as possible and be that guy who helps the city be looked at in the right way.

When he is off the court, Parker describes himself as a “relaxed cool guy.” He says that he enjoys being around different types of people and getting to know more about them, as they learn more about him. He also loves music. One of his future goals is to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. However, his immediate goal and purpose in life is to have a positive impact both on and off the court. There is no doubt that Jabari Parker is a name that people will be hearing for some time to come. The video below highlights the first 18 years of his remarkable life and career.

Mansfield Pens Article on Mormonizing of America

Stephen Mansfield, a well-known author on religion, has written an unusual article for Huffington Post about the Mormonizing of America. In it, he traces the history of Mormon acceptance in American society and then examines what causes so many Mormons to become successful.

He notes that people who mistakenly refer to Mormons as a cult fail to notice that the values Mormons teach are merely the traditional values of the country, the ones that helped make it successful.

“Plant Mormonism in any country on earth and pretty much the same results will occur. If successful, it will produce deeply moral individuals who serve a religious vision centered upon achievement in this life. They will aggressively pursue the most advanced education possible, understand their lives in terms of overcoming obstacles, and eagerly serve the surrounding society. The family will be of supernatural importance to them, as will planning and investing for future generations. They will be devoted to community, store and save as a hedge against future hardship, and they will esteem work as a religious calling. They will submit to civil government and hope to take positions within it. They will have advantages in this. Their beliefs and their lives in all-encompassing community will condition them to thrive in administrative systems and hierarchies–a critical key to success in the modern world. Ever oriented to a corporate life and destiny, they will prize belonging and unity over individuality and conflict every time.”

Mormons—a nickname for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—believe that the most important place to change a nation or a world is in the home. Government, teachers, and youth group leaders—even churches—should only support parents in their primary responsibility of raising and shaping children. To that end, Mormon parents devote an amount of time to their families and that time has an impact. No matter how busy they are, they work to gather in the mornings for family prayer and scripture study. In the evenings, they will pray as a family again. Once a week, they close the doors of their homes to the outside world and hold family home evening. During the next few hours, usually on a Monday evening, they study their faith, make family plans, work out challenges, play games and enjoy singing together. It’s an old-fashioned idea that has enviable results. Mormon teens are less likely to leave their faith than other religious teens, and even to keep it as adults. They are more family-centered and less likely to use drugs, smoke, drink, or become pregnant outside of marriage. Because they know what their parents expect of them and have a close relationship with their parents, they are more likely to honor the standards of their parents.

In addition, they are told they must never just take another person’s word for the truthfulness of their faith. Only God can give them an answer they can’t question, and so they are taught, beginning as young children, to ask God. This gives them a personal testimony of their beliefs that transcends family tradition.

Mormons learn the value of hard work and develop leadership skills early on. Mormon teens lead their own youth programs under a gentle shadow leadership by adults. A unique system of callings, in which Mormons are asked to undertake volunteer positions in their church teach them to serve and broaden their skills. These callings are changed often and are assigned, rather than chosen, which means Mormons often find themselves outside their comfort zone. That, in turn, helps them learn new skills and to discover they can do and be more than they thought possible. Many take the skills learned at church and apply them in their employment or in government or community service. A culture of goal setting helps them become everything they can be. Children eight and older belong to activity groups in which they are taught to set goals and then formulate a plan for carrying those goals out. By the time they are teens, they are creating, planning, and leading ten-hour service projects each year.

Mormonism creates a unique culture because it begins with the teaching that we are children of God and therefore can be anything, do anything—we are special. God created us out of love and we have that love to strengthen us as we go through life. He created us to succeed—and Mormons don’t like to let God down, so they work hard to be the best of whatever they decide to be.

Read Mansfield’s article on the Mormonizing of America.

Jessika Jenson Tackles New Olympic Snowboarding Category

Jessika Jenson Tackles New Olympic Snowboarding Category

Jessika Jenson hails from Rigby, Idaho, and grew up snowboarding as well as dirt biking, wakeboarding, and mountain biking. Snowboarding, though, is her specialty.

Jessika first started snow sports skiing at a local resort and switched to snowboarding when she was only 10 years old. Since then she took her training into her own hands and entered every open competition she could. She started competing when she was 14 and found open competitions at local resorts like Kelly Canyon and Grand Targhee. Jessika’s talent made her a notable contender, and she quickly rose in the rankings.

jessika_jenson-mormon (more…)

Reflections on the 2012 Pew Forum Study – Mormons in America – Marriage and Family

Reflections on the 2012 Pew Forum Study – Mormons in America – Marriage and Family

We have all heard the statement “proof is in the pudding.” In a recent survey by the Pew Research Center Forum on Religion & Public Life, ‘Mormons in America,’ many great topics were addressed and a better understanding gained of what Mormons think about those topics. The Deseret News has taken a look at this research and has created a five part series discussing different aspects of the survey. In their piece “New Pew survey reinforces Mormon’s top goals of family, marriage” they take a deeper dive into the findings surrounding these critical beliefs of those who are Mormon.

Mormon family Pew studyThe article references a very important statistic that was found through the Pew survey, “81 percent of Mormons say being a good parent is ‘one of the most important things in life.’” I guess from one perspective you could ask the question, based on what Mormons are taught about the role and importance of families, why this number is not 100%… but 81 is a good number. There are probably a number of reasons that number is not higher which may lead to some good follow-up research. (more…)

Mormons Say Polygamy Morally Wrong

Mormons Say Polygamy Morally Wrong

By Amy Choate-Nielsen

Deseret News
Published: Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 7:00 p.m. MST

David Letterman knows how to get a laugh.Like most comics, he riffs on the day’s news, deadpans the camera and revels in audacity.”Oh, did you hear about this?” the host of CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman asked his audience recently. “A campaign staffer on the Newt Gingrich campaign was fired because he was making negative comments about Mormons. I thought, now, wait a minute — isn’t Newt in favor of multiple wives?”
Mormons say polygamy wrongLaughter rumbled from the audience followed by applause. The polygamy punch line is a familiar one when it comes to poking fun at Mormons — as though Mormons and polygamy are synonymous in mainstream media. Ironically, the practice that’s most linked to Mormons is a practice most Mormons oppose, according to a groundbreaking new study of Mormons in America released Thursday by the Pew Research Center‘s Forum on Religion and Public Life. (more…)

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