Varsity Basketball Team Enjoys Sunday Dinners

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For the past few years now the varsity boys’ basketball team has been eating “Sunday Dinners” together. This team building activity allows the guys on the team to get to know each other and connect on a level they aren’t able to on the court.

Usually the dinner is hosted and prepared by a team member’s parents at their home. The week I visited with the team, Devin Whitt’s mom, Kellie hosted at her restaurant, Kellie’s, along with her parents, Mike and Dawna Stockwell. This added an additional uniqueness to the dinner because the team prepared their own food, supervised by Kellie.

Kellie demonstrated how to prepare a hamburger to the first team player and he, in turn, had to show the guy behind him. They worked together and taught each other how to work the grill to prepare their own burger. The shake-making lesson went the same way as Kellie instructed the first person and then the information passed from player to player. As the guys ate, Kellie asked how everything was, as you might expect a host to do, but before anyone could answer, she quipped, “if its’ not good, it’s your own fault!”

The Sunday Dinners are also an effort to get them out from behind electronic devices and social media, which is becoming more difficult with teenagers and adults alike. During the evening, the parents kept an eye out for players using their phones or other devices. There were none. The team interacted with each other without electronic distraction.

I had a chance to talk to a few of the guys after the meal and they all agreed that the dinners were a good team building activity. They also discovered that Julio made the best chocolate malts!