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It was a whole new experience today. We learned that things can get out of hand but there’s always a way to rebound, literally: we are building a basketball court along with painting a mural and adding more games. We had a rough start, but we had to put our heads back in the game. We had a few set backs and it pushed us behind schedule but we all worked together, as a team, to beat the buzzer. It got a bit frustrating when the welder showed up 3 hours late causing one of our teams to change their play. We split up into the other teams and scored.

We can all agree that Amauris, the community association president, was the most inspiring person on the team. We could see his devotion and passion in helping the community. He was our coach and role model. As soon as the welder showed up, he immediately sprung into offense. Within minutes, our couch gave the basketball team (re: basketball court committee) an opportunity to put our super duper plan into action. Because we like you so much, we’ll let you in on our super duper plan.

Our team assembled to accurately measure and paint the backboard, paint the pole, attach the backboard onto the pole, and watched as the local players, the home team, put the pole in the hole. We placed cement blocks and cement into the hole to keep the pole in the hole.

Co-leading with Duane Steinhoff taught me that teamwork is essential to being the MVP, yo. Even though the setback caused obvious frustrations, Duane managed to get me back into power forward. He honestly was a great help today. Thank you Duane. I learned that being a leader comes with great determination and focus. I also learned that as a leader, you can delegate tasks to several people in order to get the most out of the day.

Co-leading with Jennifer Lopez was awesome today. I learned that there is always room for more leaders on the team. I also learned the fears and challenges that come with leading a large group of pubescent teens as well as rowdy Dominican children. Making sure that everyone was working efficiently, protecting themselves from dehydration and harmful UV rays, and doing the very best they could with what they had in order to successfully deliver what we had designed was the ultimate challenge. My experience was more than unforgettable, and I have all the folks at Global Glimpse as well as Jennifer Lopez to thank for it.