Sports... The Daily Uniting Force in America.

For my first blog post I attended a competitive youth basketball game at Alliant International University (AIU), and realized that Sports has the ability to bring people together in a way that even Martin Luther King would be envious of. AIU has a unique area to play basketball; it is in a old airplane hangar that has been transformed into a baller’s dream, 6 full size courts where games are being played continuously from 8:00am till 7:00pm on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. The competition that AIU bolsters draws teams from every area of San Diego, as well as a very diverse socio economic group. Most of the teams are “All-Star” teams and as result the teams tend to draw from more than one town. As a result you have kids who are from the wealthy parts of La Jolla playing with kids from the not so fortunate area of Encanto. As I watched the parents interact you I witnessed two very different groups of parents conversing and enjoying each other’s company. These parents would never have crossed paths if not for basketball. The parents in AIU tell me that sports are an ever-uniting force that can bring people together. I don’t believe that we have studied any one event that can bring people together. The one event that I feel surpasses what sports does on a daily basis is the attack on 9/11. The attack on our country that fateful day, brought Americans together unlike anything else of my generation.