This verse did not hold a lot of significance in my life until I met the Paxson family. Now each spring/summer this verse is lived out in the lives of our family. This is the theme verse for MN Glory.
Minnesota Glory is a Spring/Summer Boys Basketball Program. The mission of the Glory basketball program is to help elite athletes with their athletic, academic, and spiritual growth. We assist all Glory athletes with their desire to play college ball.
Ben's dad (Dr. Charlie Paxson) started MN glory when Ben was in 7th grade and to this day it is still one of the most elite programs in the state of Minnesota. However, it is the only Christian based basketball program. As I stated Ben was the main reason they started this program and Ben is just one example of the many players that have come out of this program with Division 1 Scholarships.
Dr. Paxson puts a lot of effort each year into this program. The teams aren't just thrown together and then we play. Each year he goes to hundreds of basketball games to watch players during their school season to see if they would be well suited for MN Glory. He goes from as far North as Thief River Falls and as far south as Sioux Falls, SD to see some of the most elite athletes in the state.
After he goes to all of the games, he begins sending out letters to invite each player to tryouts. This year tryouts were held on March 26th for 15,16,17 year old age groups. Tryouts start with registration which is the job of the women in the family to collect tryout fees and get each boy signed up and sent into the gym with a jersey for the tryout. Then the fun begins; the coaches (Dr. Paxson, my hubby and Bro-in law are some of the coaches) and Glory alumni begin to review the players as they go through a variety of drills and scrimmages.
Once this portion of the tryout is over; teams are selected. This is a very difficult time as we do have to cut players. However, we pray each year that the Lord brings us the players he wants to be apart of MN Glory and each year we are not disappointed.
The season lasts from April to August. We have a few tournaments in state and a few out of state. The out of state tournaments serve as the soul purpose to have college coaches see our players so to in able them to get scholarships. These out of state tournaments have so many college coaches it is unbelievable. A couple of years ago I got to see my favorite coach and he was watching our game.... Yes, it was Mike Krzyzewski of Duke.
Once the actual playing season is over...the work is not done. Dr. Paxson gets on the phone and calls ALL and yes I mean ALL the college coaches for these players. He spends thousands of hours talking to coaches about our players and encourages these coaches to give our players a try in their programs.
So, in a nut shell that is just a small bit about what MN Glory is about. Not only do we have players get scholarships but some of these young men come to know Jesus. Praise the Lord for that.
I have been a member of Ben's family for almost 6 years and we dated for 6 years. This is one of my favorite Paxson times of life is watching Dr. Paxson in action working for these young men. Did I mention, he also has a full time job besides putting in thousands of hours into MN Glory?!
I have watched Ben's family spend hours and hours putting effort into this program. I have loved watching this become such a family function. Ben's mom, Cathie does all administrative work---gets hotels, files correct paperwork, makes sure everything is in line and in order, Katie (Ben's sister) has taken THOUSANDS of pictures of the games, teams throughout the years. Ben has played in the program and now coaches. When I came into the family, I got the job of statistician and helped with tryouts. Then when Katie got married to David, he also became a coach and helped to go visit players during the school year.
MN Glory has been a huge blessing to my life and maybe one day our kids will get to play for their grandpa and dad's.
