Professor Carlana Kohn- Davis
E-150-10
28 October 2013 Dewayne Dedmon’s Leap of Faith
Dewayne Dedmon was an eighteen year old kid from Lancaster, California. Dewayne’s dream was to play basketball, but his mother was a Jehovah’s Witness who forbade her son to even look at a ball. When Dewayne grew an independent mind, he decided to go against his mother and play basketball. Being Dewayne Dedmon meant being religious, defiant, and determined. It was not easy being all of those things at once, but Dewayne Dedmon had a will to succeed and to accomplish his goal to become a basketball player.
Dewayne Dedmon worked to accomplish his goal to become a basketball player despite religious obstacles that he encountered. Because Dewayne Dedmon was a Jehovah’s Witness, he was not allowed to devote his time to anything other than his religion. He had an hour of bible study on Tuesday, two hours of ministry school on Thursday, and two- hour public meetings on Sunday. Throughout the week, Dewayne had to attend school. There was no time in Dewayne’s schedule to participate in both basketball and what was considered a priority. Dewayne had to make a choice between something he wanted and something everyone else wanted. In order to support basketball the way he needed to, he had to become defiant towards his religion. Dewayne stopped going to the meetings, the bible study and the church so he could focus on basketball.
Dewayne Dedmon invested time into something that he was passionate about, because he was determined to succeed. Dewayne Dedmon had no experience in basketball. He stumbled over his own feet on post moves, fumbled the ball while dribbling and he fired his jump shots from too far away, but he never gave up. He showed up to practices thirty minutes early, ready to learn every drill and technique that basketball had to offer. Dewayne was determined to play the game of basketball even if it meant messing up a few times. Dewayne had a lot of