Do you know Jabari Parker?
For months, my husband and brothers have been talking about this high school basketball phenom who is also an outstanding example of faith and humility. He is a 16 year old junior in high school with a high GPA, high morals and also happens to be one of the best high school basketball players in the nation with a long, long list of universities that are heavily recruiting him.
You may have seen the article in The New York Times showing a picture of him saying a prayer during early morning seminary and saying,
Jabari acknowledged that he could not be the same person on the court and in seminary, but said that his goal remained the same in both: “There is good to be done, and I try to find it.”
Or maybe you saw this Sports Illustrated article who wrote,
Before Jabari Parker takes the floor to play a basketball game, he sits by himself in the locker room for a couple of minutes of prayer and reflection. “I pray that God keeps me safe on the floor, and that I’m able to have a good attitude towards my teammates,” he says. When the game ends, Parker heeds that higher calling by rushing to be first in line to shake hands. “I just want to show the opponents that I’m grateful,” he says. “I want to show good sportsmanship.”
Well, this weekend Jabari Parker was in Utah on vacation from his home in Chicago. While here, he and his returned missionary brother Christian did an interview with the women over at As Sistas in Zion. Mr. R and Tyson were listening to the show on Sunday evening and decided to call in to try and talk to Christian and Jabari. They got on the air immediately.
You can listen to the show HERE. Mr. R and Tyson are on at 1:13:05.
Mr. R explained that Tyson was in our family through the miracle of adoption and that we are always actively looking for positive LDS role models for our kids to look up to that also look like them.
Then Tyson gets on the air and tells Jabari, “You are a good basketball player and I like you. Thanks for being a good example.”
Apparently, it melted their hearts as much as it melted mine and before we knew it, Jabari and Christian were wondering if they could meet Tyson before their trip to Utah ended.
They kept their word.
Yesterday morning they arrived bright and early–while Tyson still had bedhead (mom fail!) and our little not-a-morning-person Gavin refused to change out of his jammies or unbury his face from Mr. R’s neck.
They were so sweet to our family! They were patient as Gavin didn’t say a word and Tyson went into toddler show-off mode–you know where he shows them every trick he can do like climbing down the banister as Spiderman. I can’t believe we didn’t scare them off!
In the picture above Tyson said he had never been so tall while on Jabari’s 6′ 8″ shoulders. The last photo is Tys trying to reach our vaulted ceilings in our front room. Adorable!
Both Christian and Jabari took the time to sign a photo for each one of our kids for their rooms. We chose pictures of them not only playing basketball, but praying at seminary as well to remind our kids of the character behind these impressive young men.
The sweetest moment for me was when I asked Jabari if he had any advice for Tyson about sports or anything else. In his quiet, humble way (I am getting choked up just thinking about it), he told Tyson that he feels like he has been successful because he has worked hard and stayed close to the Lord. He encouraged Tyson to do what he loves. Then he asked Tyson what he loved to do, “Play basketball!” he proclaimed. And it’s true–if you’ve ever been to our house, you know we have a basketball hoop in our from room.
Since Sunday, Tyson has been talking about Christian and Jabari. He’s been squealing with delight when we talk about them coming over. He’s been saying, “They have curly hair like me!” He’s been telling me that Christian went on a mission and that he is going on a mission too. He’s been wondering if Jabari could make a basket if he was standing in California and the hoop was in our living room …because he knows Jimmer can.
We had a blast having them in our home, talking basketball, bragging that Gavin was probably the only person on the planet that chose Lehigh over Duke in the tournament, looking at a picture of our March Madness wall bracket from last year and telling Jabari that if he went to BYU, we could cheer for him in person. Hint, hint. They were such good sports! In fact, they thanked us for letting them come over (as if we weren’t the ones on Cloud Nine!) and sent several sweet texts to Mr. R afterward thanking us again and worrying that they had overstayed their welcome. WHAT?!
I was so impressed with these guys. What junior in high school, let alone a famous basketball superstar would take the time to visit with a toddler? Christian and Jabari Parker are incredible young men–young men of character.
Add the Parker boys to my list of examples I know my boys will look up to.
We are Jabari Parker fans no matter where he goes to play next year!
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