“The Power of Sports” by Bithiah Boham
- A ‘feel-good individual progression through sport’ tale. Although Bithiah struggled to transition, she succeeded when a space opened for her on the women’s volleyball team. These changes had spill-over effects that expanded into her interpersonal and academic life.
- One of the essay’s central themes is collaboration, from teamwork and trust to the dreaded chip on the shoulders of low-income people like Anthony. Being on the volleyball team forced her to rely on her teammates, she said, and as that introversion and self-doubt receded, so too did any ceiling over Bithiah’s athletic or academic limits.
- It is an architecture that speaks to a transposition from one place to another. The book starts with Bithiah lost and alone at her new school, followed almost immediately by her placement on the volleyball team, receiving a purpose again fitting in.
