S is for...Shine. Define. Refine.

When I started Exmouth Basketball Club I created it as a community project; called Bridge Building Basketball Exmouth.

Yeah, I’ve pretty much always had an affinity and interest in using words and language to bring people together. The alliteration used in Bridge Building Basketball was very much intentional. I think I knew it sounded a little bit cheesy, but I didn’t really care. Bridge Building Basketball encapsulated exactly what I was trying to achieve; building bridges within my community to bring people together, through the sport of basketball.

And using something like alliteration, especially on a small scale, helps things stick in people’s minds. We all know this...

Bish Bash Bosh

Dunkin’ Doughnuts

Coca-Cola

TED Talk

American Airlines

I’ll go on...

Range Rover

Krispy Kreme

PayPal

Wycombe Wanderers

Wolverhampton Wanderers

King Kong

Yin Yang

Bruce Banner

Peter Parker

Donald Duck

Mickey Mouse

Bugs Bunny

Tic-Tac

The list goes on.

So, after creating the community project and getting people together, we eventually got to the stage where we were going to enter a team

into the local league. Being the democratic person that I am, I wanted to ensure that everyone got a say on what the club was going to be called. So, those that wanted to submitted ideas. The final 3 names that were going to be chosen from were Exmouth Tide, Exmouth Avocets, and Exmouth Jesters.

Exmouth Jesters was the name that I submitted. My housemate at the time Adam suggested putting it forward. I have a jester tattoo on my leg and that’s pretty much where the idea came from.

It was a fairly close run vote in the end. I forget the exact numbers. But we did have a healthy number of members turning up. So I’m just happy that the club was formed in morally sounded foundations.

Now, when it comes to something like a team name it can be a massive deal. Most team names in the UK are just based around the towns and cities that a club is based in. And if there is anything ‘novel’ about the name its usually just a nickname. But in ‘American sports‘, the nickname is usually a bigger part of the club identity.

I remember at the time, the odd person saying, what has Exmouth got to do with jesters? Well, that’s besides the point. The way I saw it, being an athlete is about being a performer and and entertainer. So, that’s why I liked the name. And if you actually take the time to see what is going on in Exmouth, or what people from Exmouth are up to with their lives, then you would know that there are some very, very, very talented people that have either been schooled, grown-up in, live, or have lived in Exmouth. Some really talented jesters.

Part of coming up with the team name to me meant that I also had to come up with a motto. Even though I’m from Wolverhampton I supported Blackburn Rovers growing up. To be honest, the pain of thinking about home, even in respect to my hometown football club was too much for me sometimes. I’m pretty sure that’s why I partly supported Blackburn. That and the fact that Blackburn were in the premiership and Wolves weren’t. So I could watch Rovers on Match of The Day every week. I couldn‘t watch Wolves. The most info I could find out about Wolves was maybe a little bit in the paper, or going to Curry’s on Exeter High Street and flicking through Teletext.

But because I followed Blackburn I know that their motto is Arte et Labore; which in Latin means ‘By skill and hard work’. Which I absolutely love.

I was tempted to come up with something Latin for Exmouth. But I figured it wouldn’t necessarily sit well. I’d like to think we’ve moved on a bit since using Latin. So ‘Shine. Define. Refine.‘ was what I ended up coming up with.

When I was about 16/17 I wrote a song called Shine. It was a kind of indie/grunge tune about basically wanting to be the best you could be. Partly inspired by the sounds of some of my favourite bands Nirvana and Oasis.

So, that’s where the ‘Shine’ part came from I think. And the rest of it was pretty much based on good coaching and how you make sure you improve things. The actual sequence of it all still bugs me sometimes to this day. Because I often wonder “Well what actually comes first?

The shining? Or the defining?”. But I figure, as soon as you are born you are shining. It’s not until a little bit later on in your life that you personally actually start to define who you are, what you are, and more importantly who and what you want to be.

The question is, are you going to try and ‘refine’ it afterwards. And what would that even require of you?

Anyway, cool story bro.

Something someone supposedly said

“Doing as much as you can for as long as you can - that’s the motto.” - Ne-Yo

Songs

Shine - The Fiction