> SOUTHERN INDIANA — I am a basketball coach.

Thanks to John Bradley back in 1992, I was able to figure my purpose in life. Coach Bradley was the Henryville boys’ coach at the time and he asked me one day if I would be interested in coaching the freshmen that year. I told him I had to think about that. At age 23, that was going to be a huge decision.

Did he actually want me to be in charge of a group of young men? Wow ... I just didn’t know.

I thought about it and decided I would give it a try. (Before I go any further, I want to apologize to those guys because I was a complete and total idiot that first year, and well ... for a few years.)

Even though I had figured out what my purpose was, I still didn’t know how to really do that purpose, if that makes sense. For anyone who thought I was intense or ridiculous the last few years, they probably would have called the police those first one to 10 years of my coaching career.

I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn’t know how to do it. Many of those players from those years have thanked me for all I did, and I usually apologize because I could have done better and I am not talking about just on the court.

That gets me to the last two years. As I started to understand my purpose even more, I was starting to understand that purpose had to lead to more than just coaching basketball. I wanted to reach more and different people through my faith. Last fall, I applied to Athlete’s in Action and a couple of other organizations and was accepted.

That acceptance and the process helped me to decide to resign as boys’ basketball coach at Henryville.

I knew there was something that I should be doing greater than what I was doing. So thankfully to some, I resigned.

I am not putting down being a varsity basketball coach. So many men and women are doing a job that is under the microscope by many who wouldn’t even consider coaching an elementary team. Asked by friend Matt Denison the other night if I was finished being a head coach, I told him I just didn’t know. I will be coaching in the near future, but at what position and where is still unknown to me.

Now I am with Athlete’s in Action for a basketball tour. We are going somewhere to play that it is so sensitive, I am not allowed to tell anyone specifically where it is. As we finish training camp and prepare to fly out this week, I am excited.

My wife, Kristi, may be one of the most supportive wives I know.

“Honey, can I go to Eastern Europe and work camps?” I asked her.

Kristi: “That’s a great opportunity, you can’t pass it up.”

“Honey, can I go to Iceland and work camps?” I asked.

Kristi: “How cool, of course you can.”

“Honey, can I go with Athlete’s in Action for a tour to Southeast Asia?”

Kristi: “I will help you in any way I can.”

Now, my wife isn’t exactly a pushover. In fact, she is the one who keeps, OK, tries to keep me humble. She is able to say things that keep things in perspective, to keep me focused on my purpose.

I want to thank everyone who has helped me with support on this trip. I plan on writing a journal and taking lots of pictures to share with you because I want you to feel that you are part of this trip.

But I think I finally have figured out, not just my purpose, but how to go about doing it. And that realization has come from so many helpful people that I may not be able to ever get around thanking everyone in the manner it deserves.



Follow Hunter’s excursions in the News and Tribune and at coachperryhunter.blogspot.com.