BIGGER THAN BASKETBALL - Ashley Evans

Hey guys! My name is Ashley Evans. I am so grateful for this opportunity to share on Kellon’s blog. First, I’ll start with a quick intro about myself. I am from Ohio. Basketball has been a big part of my life. My father played basketball for Michigan State and my older siblings played during grade school. So basketball has been a passion of mine at a young age. In grade school I was always asked to play up a level. My senior year of high school I hit a milestone of scoring 1,400 points to join my father in the 1,000 point club. After high school, I had many mid major Division I college offers, but I had hopes to live down south. With that being said I started my college career playing at a junior college in Texas. After my freshman year I transferred to another junior college located in Kansas. I finished my college career at Kent State. I received many accolades throughout my college career such as offensive player, defensive player, team captain, and  academic All- American to name a few. After graduating from Kent I was blessed with the opportunity to play professionally for two seasons. I played my rookie season in Forssa, Finland and my second season in Morocco, Africa. 

Let’s take a walk into ‘Ashley’s Thoughts’ as a professional athlete. Prior to departing from the states to go play in Morocco there was a lot spoken over me to encourage me. A few words that stuck out were “Morocco will be the best experience” and “It’s Bigger than basketball.” First off let’s look at my experience in a natural sense. Before signing my contract I had some fears and doubts. How could a Christian be truly accepted in a Muslim dominated country? I didn’t put into account the huge culture shock I would face. The living conditions were much different than I was used to. The gym wasn’t heated and believe it or not it was an arctic bliss trying to practice and play. I literally warmed up with layers of clothing and gloves. Also, I had no idea of the language barrier. There were so many issues that I faced in that place from playing time, to having a plethora of coaches coming in and out within a span of weeks.

On top of all of that we were playing for free. We were months into our contract without any form of payment. It was a mental battle that everyday I had to pep talk myself to overcome. After four months I made the hard decision to break my contract to go home. It was the hardest thing for me to do. I felt like I gave up. I felt like I lost the fight. When I came home I learned my mother was fighting silent health battles. She had tumors that were possibly cancerous in her body. In a sense I felt like I was right where I needed to be. I stuck by her side through her process of surgery. But as she started to recover something started happening in me. The feelings of depression, disappointment, and anger began to come to the surface. I couldn’t understand why God didn’t fight for me to stay or win against adversity in Morocco. Why did my professional career stop suddenly without any explanation. After all, my intentions were always to glorify God’s name through my playing.

I essentially went through an identity crisis. For so long basketball had been a big part of me. That’s all I knew. That’s really what people identified me as “you’re the basketball player.” After a long season of lashing out at people, playing with anger and bitterness in open gyms, God began to deal with me. In the process of exchanging my identity in basketball for an identity in Christ He revealed to me purpose. That’s what the phrase ‘Bigger than basketball’ meant. Basketball was a vehicle God used to get me to purpose. Basketball was never meant to be the final destination. Today I identify as a follower of Jesus, a nurturer, a creative, a lover of people, a purpose driven person, and much more. I share all of this to say that God has taught me a valuable lesson that we can not make careers, talents, or even desires our god’s. Identity in Christ will never fade. Basketball was what I did, but not who I was or am today. 

It is my desire to see people walking into purpose and being who God called you to be. God inspired me to write a book to help coach you through the process. It is called Bigger than Basketball. It is a 31 day mind renewal devotional for athletes or anyone that can identify with my experience. It is jammed packed with real life experiences to help encourage individuals in the areas of confidence, work ethic, trusting God, working with a team, and purpose to name a few. Bigger Than Basketball is releasing October 7, 2020 exclusively on Amazon. I thank you all for sharing your time with me, the pleasure was all mine. 

Be encouraged,

Ashley Evans