Many of us have had the privilege to be able to travel. And especially those of you who have had the chance to be gone over a long period of time, know the amazing feeling of coming home.
Last Saturday, after one year in Oregon, USA, Tom (16 & name changed), returned home to Berlin. Tom is one of our basketball club‘s talents. For the last year, he had the chance to attend a US high school. I remember Tom as a 4 year old boy. Back then, he watched many basketball practices I gave for his older brother‘s team. With great attention, Tom would study the team as they where practicing. And when he got bored, he would jump around on gym mats or chase a small soccer around the gym.
Last Saturday, Tom came back. And while he was surely thrilled to see his parents and siblings, he wanted to be somewhere else instead. Where?
For the last 35 years, the Basketball Gemeinschaft Zehlendorf e.V. has been organizing one of the biggest basketball tournaments in all over Europe: The Pentecost Tournament / Zehlendorfer Pfingtturnier. With over 400 helping hand involved (all voluntary), this was is quite a stunt: Every year, we coordinate more than 2000 hours of voluntarily work during the weekend alone, not to mention the preparation that goes into it. Now you might think that this is crazy; and yes, it is crazy!
So why the effort? Well, we might have overcome one or two walls since the tradition first started in the 80’s, but now more than ever, our society needs strong communities people can identify with. So this is what all these people have created; a community of trust, where exceptional moments of human interaction and joy, fairness, and equality are shared.
So when Tom stepped out of the airplane, he didn’t think about his room, his belongings, or his jetlag. What he thought about was how to get to our tournament as quickly as possible. Why? Because the tournament and the people involved became like an extended family to him, which he wouldn’t want to miss in the world; his additional space psychological safety, and his place to grow as a person. To do what? To become whatever he wants to become!
Tom is 16 today, so his life lays ahead of him. But there might actually come a time when Tom will hear his calling to carry on our club’s tradition. Why am I so sure of that? Because like Tom, I might not have realized what it meant to join the organizing committee 12 years ago, but I surely knew what being part of an extended family felt like.
So thank you to all of the voluntary actors who created these thousands of memories over the last 36 years. We are better because of you!
Marcus Gehrmann, Burkhardt Scholz, Boris Tetzlaff, Niklas von Tschirnhaus, Golo Grajewski, Dr. Maximilian Spohr, Antonia Hasenstab, Nicolas Schulwitz, Benjamin Sommer, Nicolás Urióstegui, Lars Hennings, Jose Del Pino, Paul Müller, Holger Lehniger, Anna Frederike Sontag, Florian Große, Anke Bugert, Maike Spieweg, and so many more!
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