Humans of AISB: “Where Basketball Brought Me”

Secondary Principal Mel Kempe has spent most of her life teaching high school English. She has done leadership work before. Recently, she opened up about her love of basketball and how it has helped her in life. 

What follows is Mel’s story, in her own words:

I have spent much of my life involved in basketball. I started playing it when I was seven and I still play basketball now. So, it has looked different at different times in my life. But my dad was my basketball coach from when I was a very young age. And my basketball story kind of went from playing basketball on community teams to refereeing; I started reffing when I was 12. So, then I was reffing the seven and eight year old’s games. My first job and the job that I paid my way through college doing is reffing basketball. As I moved towards high school, I still continued playing on school teams. And in the community, I joined the travel team, so I had an opportunity to travel with basketball. That’s part of where I think my love of traveling is. 

And then, when I got to university, I stopped playing basketball and was selected for a national panel of referees. I got to travel around Canada reffing basketball, and it was great money to pay my college tuition and be able to make my way through college. And then, when I moved overseas, that really then shifted to coaching. So I’ve spent the last 17 or 18 years coaching basketball and then just playing basketball recreationally. I played on a women’s team in Honduras for a couple of years with their national basketball players, and then over the course of time it’s become something that’s more of a hobby, and we play with faculty or students once or twice a week. But I would tell you it’s really the hobby that has offered me opportunities to learn kind of who I am as a leader, who I am as a teammate, what it’s like to play ref and coach, and I think it’s really shaped who I am both personally and professionally.

I’m not good enough to play basketball professionally, and to be honest, I never really had the ambition of becoming a professional basketball player. I think what I’ve always loved about it is the idea of a team. I love being part of a team and I love the connection and the strength that comes with that type of community. And the balance that it brings me in terms of a physical activity that I know is good for me, I really enjoy doing. I’m good with how that’s been. I’m not sure I would have changed that path if I had chosen to because I was never disciplined enough to want it to be the only thing in my life, but I sure love the value that it’s brought to me.