Alan Babbitt (00:11):
Welcome to Hope College Athletics Orange and Blue Podcast. My name is Alan Babbitt, sports information director here at Hope College. Hard to believe, but it's our fourth season of the Orange and Blue podcast, and it's been my pleasure over the last four years to talk with Hope College stu-dent athletes, coaches, staff, alums, and share their stories from this incredible place and incredible hope College athletics. And just I have two more examples here with me today of those who represent our pillars of academic success, competitive excellence, and transformational experience. I have Justice Mims, Hope College men's basketball student-athlete, and junior kinesiology major, and Samantha Smith from the Hope College Women's lacrosse team. Welcome to the Orange and Blue Podcast, Justice and Samantha,

Justice Mims (01:08):
Thank you for having us.

Samantha Smith (01:09):
Thank you.

Alan Babbitt (01:12):
We'll start a little bit before we get into your story, these two were involved with amazing SEED experience and a mission trip to Central America this summer. And we'll talk about that. We want to get to know them a little bit more. We'll start with you, Justice. Tell us about where you grew up, your background and how you came to be a student-athlete- at Hope College.

Justice Mims (01:57):
So I lived in Rochester on the east side. It's like 30 minutes away from Detroit. And so I moved there my fifth grade, fifth grade year. And so I ended up going to Rochester Adams High School, played basketball there. I was able to meet up with Coach Mitchell through AAU. Then I kind of just got linked in with hope through there. Although I came over basketball, I was able to find so much more. I was able to get a community here, find family here, and find Jesus, which I feel like didn't know that I would, but it's the best thing that could have happened.

Alan Babbitt (02:40):
And Samantha, for you, tell us about where you grew up and how you came to be here at Hope College.

Samantha Smith (02:48):
I am from Westfield, Indiana, which is just the middle of Indiana. I went to Westfield High School and I started playing lacrosse in second or third grade. I had to play on a boys team because there was no girls team in my area. And so I started playing there and then there were too many girls on the boys team. So we started a girls team and I been playing since, and I just found out about Hope because two of my club teammates were playing here. And so I talked to Coach Keegan and I just really liked the way she ran the program and the way she communicated. And so I just fell in love and I wanted to be close enough to home where I could drive home for a weekend, but far enough that I'd be out of my comfort zone. And I've just loved it. It's the perfect school for me and I've just been able to grow in so many different ways here.

Alan Babbitt (03:40):
Justice, the sport of basketball, when did it become your game and what makes it a game that you obviously a big part of your life into?

Justice Mims (03:51):
Honestly, I'd probably say around third grade. I started playing when I was five at Boys and Girls Club Leagues. I think I loved it so much because my brother JaBBar, he used to play for AAU, my dad's, Team X, and Avondale High School. So watching him, I think I really just started to want to become a basketball player and just get better and get better and better. And then LeBron and all of them, I started watching them and liking them, not because I really liked them too much, but because my brother liked them. I kind of just started mimicking my brother in a way. That's kind of how I came to love basketball.

Alan Babbitt (04:37):
And for you, Samantha, obviously you mentioned there wasn't a girls team around and you had to join the boys team.Llacrosse has become a growing sport, especially in the Midwest. How did you discover the game and what do you enjoy about it so much?

Samantha Smith (04:53):
I'm the youngest of three girls and my two older sisters had some friends that were wanting to play a new sport. And so they're like five years older than me. And so they were in middle school and high school and they were just looking for a new sport to try out because we played every sport growing up, softball, soccer, every sport you could think of. And so I just wanted to be my older sisters. I joined and I just ended up just loving how fast-paced it is and how just different it is from other sports. It's a lot like soccer, but there's a lot of mental side to it and knowing the field and knowing how to play. And what's so fun to me is just that people with different talents can thrive in this sport. So if there are fast people, they can thrive in the midfield position. Me not being the best runner in the whole world, being able to play goalie and really thrive in that position and be the mental person for the team, being that strong mental person, being able to see the whole field, it's really cool, but it's just really cool to be part of this growing sport. And I've seen it grow so much in my time playing, and that's the most important part for me.

Alan Babbitt (06:23):
Both of you are kinesiology majors. Tell us about, is that something you knew that when you came to hope you wanted to do or was it something that you've discovered here Jchiropracticustice for you, for your educational pursuit?

Justice Mims (06:39):
I definitely did not think that I would end up liking kinesiology as much as I did. I dunno. Once I got here, I remember I wanted to decide between, okay, do I want to start pursuing Chiropractic or being a physical therapist? Then somewhere along the way, I realized that I wanted to start pursuing physical therapy, which is the more focused portion of kinesiology, which I study. And so once I was able to start doing internships, which I'm doing as of right now, I'm definitely all in on being a physical therapist because you get to build relationships with people, help them out. They come in broken physically or mentally, spiritually, whatever it is. I just want to be able to help them out. And I know that I love people, so I want to definitely try to pour into as many people as I possibly can

Alan Babbitt (07:42):
For you, Samantha?

Samantha Smith (07:44):
So my sister growing up had a lot of knee problems and everyone in my family has knee problems. So I was the annoying little sister who always followed along to her physical therapy appointments and I would ask the therapist a million questions and my sister would be so annoyed. And I just saw an opportunity to help people and form relationships. Like Justice said, I'm a people person and that's the biggest thing for me is helping people and forming connections. And one of the things my grandpa taught me is that there's a connection between me and every person I meet. And so physical therapy allows me to have connections through sport and through medical information and stuff and where I'm at, where I'm living. And I just think that PT is the best opportunity for me to help people and form so many relationships. And I knew that coming into Hope, I've been working at the same physical therapy clinic for about three years and started that in high school and I just realized that I know that's what I want to do and that's what I'm meant to do.

Alan Babbitt (08:53):
I know one of the things about division three that is a big part is that ability to balance your athletic interest and your academic interest and be able to pursue both because you're not going professional afterward or for both of your experiences here in Hope. What have you found that you enjoy the most and has been the most fulfilling about being a student-athlete? I mean, take us, how have you been able to accomplish that within Striving for competitive excellence, but also off the field as well? Justice

Justice Mims (09:31):
Man, honestly, the best part about being a student -athlete, probably the relationships and connections. I would definitely say relationships and connections. The sport is fun. It's amazing. The crowds are amazing at DeVos or even at different schools, 100%. But I think when I think about it, going to eat food at Phelps or at Cook or your teammates and branching out to different Hope athletes. I would definitely say the connections is the most fun thing about being a student-athlete up here.

Alan Babbitt (10:17):
For you. Samantha,

Samantha Smith (10:18):
Same thing for me. The relationships in the community. Going to a small school, you're kind of most of your school and everybody makes jokes. They're like, oh, everybody at your school? And I'm like, yeah, kind of. But being an athlete at Hope, we're a whole different family. There's a whole different bond that's formed that just makes the campus seem so much closer. And something about Hope Athletes is that we all support each other, no matter the sport. We're always going to basketball games, we're going to softball games, we're driving for a JV, women's basketball game. My friend and I would go to those football games. Everything, all the athletes just support each other. There's something about maintaining the balance of school and athletics that just people at Hope get the athletes at Hope, just get each other. I've never had a community like that at my high school. All the athletes knew each other, but we weren't a family. And at Hope it's truly just one big athletic family.

Alan Babbitt (11:32):
One of the things, obviously, Hope Athletics offers is the seed trips that you both went on down to for yours was down to the Dominican Republic and those that might not know about our SEED program who are listening that our SEED program is Sports Evangelism to Equip Disciples. Through this program, our student-athletes are intentionally challenged to use their experiences to sow the seed and water their harvest so that the good news of Jesus Christ takes root in their own lives and is shared around the world. For both of you starting with justice, what intrigued you about signing up for a SEED trip?

Justice Mims (12:13):
Honestly, just getting outside of my comfort zone was probably the most intriguing thing. And I don't know how to speak any lick of Spanish. I know very minimal, so I knew that it would be a challenge, but it really didn't matter. I just wanted to, as (Director of Athletics Tim Schoonveld) was saying, during our little mandatory meetup, just show up. I just showed up and yeah, we'll get into all of that even more later

Alan Babbitt (12:42):
For you, Samantha.

Samantha Smith (12:44):
I have never been on a mission trip before, and a lot of my housemates who are also my teammates, were talking about the SEED trips and talking about going to the meetings. I never even went to the informational meetings beforehand just because I had commitments going on. But one of my teammates and one of my best friends, Callie Randall, she pulled me aside at home and she was like, 'Why are you not applying to go on a SEED trip? This is totally up your alley. I am so surprised that you're not applying.' And so I applied and got in. then my roommate and I were on the same trip, and it was just so rewarding and it was out of my comfort zone. And Justice said, we'll get into that. But just it was a random spur-the-moment decision and completely changed my life.

Alan Babbitt (13:31):
Let's talk through what you all were involved down there and what you experienced and what you remember. Justice, if you want to take, the I'm trying to remember the different stops along the way, but maybe the first spot, the stop in the Dominican Republic that you were at. Tell us what you guys did and what you experienced and saw.

Justice Mims (13:55):
Okay, so first stop was Santiago. This is where we stayed for a majority of the time. And we were at this, it was like a dorm, a little dormitory. It doesn't look like a college dorm or anything, but in their terms, it was a dorm, and I think it used to be a hospital of some sort that got turned into a dorm. And I would say the first thing that I noticed is just completely different. It's like mopeds everywhere, uneven pavement. It's definitely more underprivileged, but that's not a fault to anything in terms of being down there. It is just a different scenery for sure. I can just say that once we got there, we couldn't wash our hands in the water or brush our teeth with the water because we could possibly get sick or even shower with our mouths open or something like that, or don't let it get in your mouth. That's what they would tell us. So we would use two bowls of soap and water, and then the second bowl was bleach to be able to even eat things. But the first stop was very cool. We got to do a whole bunch of things. We went to the church out there, I forgot what it was called. I think it was like Central Iglesias. Although I didn't really understand anything because it was basically all Spanish, I still could understand that it was a movement of God in there regardless. So it was just amazing being around the people. They had so much hospitality they loved on us. We were there all the time interacting with the kids, seeing goats and dogs and whatever, little animals walk around, you see dogs on top of rooftops. It was just a whole spiel of things. But yeah, that's basically what the first stop was.

Alan Babbitt (15:51):
Are you Samantha then the next stop, what were you involved when after a few days of being there?

Samantha Smith (15:58):
After a couple days of staying in Santiago and working at the sports center the little kids, we went to Batey Neuve which is a village, and this was even more underprivileged and they didn't have hardly any running water. We couldn't really shower there, and there was a lot of bugs and power went out and all that stuff. While we were there, we went to Batey Neuve and then we went to other Bateys, Batey Cinco and then Batey Cuchillo. While we were there, we installed water filters into five-gallon jugs and we would install those and give them to the people and help them build the filters. Just seeing the joy on people's faces when they have clean water for the first time in their life was crazy. Just thinking about how they've lived for however many years, 40, 50 years, and they haven't had a sip of clean water. All they know is being, and just the fact that these filters would be good for 20 years, like 15, 20 years, we've changed that person's life and we've changed their children's lives. It was some long bus rides those days, some bus difficulties of 14 hour travel day. We were supposed to be five hours, but we were all happy and we were all just knowing that we were serving the Lord and we offered it up for the Lord and just it was very different. And after that, we went back to our dorm and it felt like paradise because we had air conditioning. But the second part of the trip was installing the water filters and just giving people the opportunity to have clean water and just hanging out with the people in Batey Neuve a lot.

Justice Mims (17:57):
If I'm able to piggyback off of that just a little more?

Alan Babbitt (18:00):
Yes, please.

Justice Mims (18:01):
I was going to say on top of that, giving the water filters, it was also supposed to symbolize the way Jesus purified the dirt within us too. It was so amazing seeing these mothers, fathers, whatever they are, they didn't even have, some of them didn't even have doors to close, they didn't have any of that. So things could just walk up in their house and they'll use the bathroom in their house and they can't really do anything about it. And you see the children looking up in the sky, they'll see an airplane, they'll chase after it. It just showed me so much that although yes, they're underprivileged, they're not poor, they're rich in spirit, 100%. And I always say this to people whenever I talk about the SEED trip, I really believe the biggest difference is that they have God in everything. They welcome us in, even though we don't even speak the same language as them, we're just stranger foreigners and they're still inviting us in. And I guess having the hospitality to give us their grace, it was just awesome. I really do think that because they had God in everything, it didn't matter what the situation was, they are much happier than what is perceived. It was awesome,

Alan Babbitt (19:33):
Samantha, that connection between with people, and again, if there's a language barrier with feeling that spirit through them, how did that, as you reflect on that, what did that teach you or mean to you to experience that as justice has been talking about?

Samantha Smith (19:54):
The same thing, they see God in everything. Whenever you would ask someone, Hey, how are you doing? They would say, I'm great, thanks to God. I have a wonderful family and it's all because of God. I thank God every day. And they would ask us how we are, and we're like, oh, we're tired. We're doing fine, but we're tired. But they would always say, I'm great thanks be to God. And that just seeing God on trip and seeing God and how little these people have, they have so little material possessions and they're so much more thankful for them than we are for our millions of material items that we have that we don't thank God for.The biggest thing from the trip that I took away was that there's always something to thank God for. There's a million things a day, and when somebody asks you how you are, you can say, I'm fantastic because I have God in my life, or I'm so happy with my family right now, and God has blessed me that way, and they just see God in every single thing when we don't. And that was the biggest thing for me to take away. But it was just really cool for just the fact that we were the ones bringing the mission work and God was definitely working more in them for us than we were for them.

Alan Babbitt (21:21):
Is there something probably similar along that lines that you've brought back and tried to incorporate into your daily life? Is that reminder to keep that from you come back here to the world of obviously a lot of material possessions and temptations and hard things. What is something that you've taken back with you that's changed your life for the better because of what you experienced through God on this mission trip Justice?

Justice Mims (21:51):
I would say gratitude. If I catch myself complaining about something, I will definitely, I will just say, okay, look at what you already have. You have a car to drive in, you have clean water to brush your teeth, you're able to shower, you have a bed to sleep in, you have a door to close. There's so much more to be grateful for instead of complaining about the little things I'll complain about, oh, I got to drive out here 30 minutes or so. But I have the ability to drive. I have a car. I am blessed with so much stuff. At such a young age, I really do feel that everything is not everything, but God is everything. When you put God in everything, everything else seems so much better, and that's just so much clearer. So yeah, having gratitude was definitely the biggest takeaway from this trip.

Alan Babbitt (22:44):
For you, Samantha?

Samantha Smith (22:47):
Like I said, just bringing God into every conversation. When somebody asks how you're doing, you could say, I'm great. Thanks be to God or having a hard day, but God's going to get me through it. There's always a way to bring up God in a conversation. We were always talking about God when we were there, and we were on a mission trip, but a lot of the time the people there would start the conversations. One of the biggest things that I noticed was our leader, John, told us that when we were done having a conversation with someone, we'd say, dios te bendiga, which means God bless you. And everybody on the trip picked it up immediately. We would say every two seconds after every conversation, even if we didn't say hi to someone, we'd say that. I just realized that in our community here, if we told a group of 20 20-year-olds, Hey, after every conversation say God bless you, we'd all be like, no, that's kind of random, kind of weird. But just because of the community they have created, that's completely normal and it's encouraged. That's something that I've been trying to incorporate here in my life, and I'll definitely try to incorporate at Hope, but that was the biggest thing for me to bring back, is that there's always room for God in a conversation.

Alan Babbitt (24:15):
I would say too, one of the things about this trip that's a byproduct, it's certainly not a focus, but that I've experienced listening to people talk about this is another thing that's intentionally done, is that it brings together the athletes from different sports and you're going as a new group to a new place and having to figure a variety of things out. What did you learn about that? Because I've found, and it seems through the conversations with you, is that there's just a bonding that happens and a community is built. And then you built this community with who you visited in the Dominican Republic. What did you learn from that part of the trip of meeting new people and going on an experience together?

Justice Mims (25:03):
Oh my gosh, it was amazing. It was amazing the conversation that you would have with these people. They've all become my friends, genuinely. I've become my friends outside of just a SEED trip. I remember one, what I was kind of thinking was like, man, I kind of almost wasted two years not really reaching out to this specific side of Hope Athletics, Sam and Ruby or Yogi, Cole, Clay, et cetera, et cetera. It was just, I mean, we have group chats that we made to go and play pickleball or something, or we'll be like, yo, we got to get together again throughout the summer just on our own time. I mean, the connection that we built was amazing, absolutely amazing

Alan Babbitt (25:59):
For you, Samantha?

Samantha Smith (26:01):
It was definitely interesting to be with people from different sports just because these were all people that maybe I had a class with, or maybe I knew their name and I knew about their athletic performance. Maybe they're the best on the team or whatever. I've made prior judgments about these people and had my own kind of perspective on them. But being in such an uncomfortable situation with these people that you have made prior judgments on or perspectives on and learning who they really are and what they're living their life for. It was just really cool to see these people on a different level who I didn't know at all. And seeing what each person brought from their own team and their own coaches was cool because we were talking about how our practices are run and how our team functions, and we each brought those things in to make the week go smoother because we couldn't do it alone. I just thought it was really cool to meet people from other teams who I didn't know, and now I am so eager to get back to school just so I can finally be with these people again and finally keep these relationships going and growing and having that bonding experience was nothing else you can get in life.

Alan Babbitt (27:23):
Lastly, I'll wrap up with, I can already, Samantha, you kind of answered this earlier, but we'll still wrap it up with, there may be someone listening who's never thought about a SEED trip or considering a SEED trip and applying. What would be your message to them having been one that was in their shoes, having not experienced a trip Justice, what would you say to someone that they should think about applying for next year's SEED trip?

Justice Mims (27:55):
Go, y'all go, y'all better go, bro. Dude, you only have to put in $300 for an experience that has no price on it. It is priceless. Y'all got to go. It's actually insane that it's such a cheap expense for all the things that we get. We get food every single day around the clock. You get to hang out with a bunch of different athletes, you get a trip outside of a country. And then the experience that you have with the people down there, I, and if you do go down there, do not just be with your group. Try to branch out and really talk to these folks out here from their country. You'll learn so much stuff and you'll not regret it at all. Go,

Alan Babbitt (28:48):
Samantha?

Samantha Smith (28:50):
There's no considering it. You have to do it. If it's even a thought in your mind, you have to do it. I fully believe that a SEED trip can change anyone's life, no matter how shy or outgoing you are or how uncomfortable you are with the idea, there's a role for everyone to fill on the seed trips. There's a role for the outgoing people to play. There's a role for the more shy people. The relationships you form and the lessons you learn are worth being out of your comfort zone for a week. And I wish I could go back a million more times and experience that week. Like Justice said, there's no price. There's no price for this trip. There's nothing that could explain it. And I remember hearing about past athletes who have gone on team trips and they're like, you don't understand the bond until you've been there. And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's another cool thing to do. You'll build relationships. But this is a whole new family for me And that's something that I knew I wouldn't have gotten if I wouldn't have gone.

Alan Babbitt (29:55):
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you for both of you spending some time with me on another episode here on the Orange and Blue podcast. We look forward. Days are counting down. It's the excitement building, I always say, 4th of July, and you start to feel it. It starts to build up. And we're looking forward to a great 2024-25 school year. And thanks for listening. Orange and Blue podcast will be back here in a couple weeks with another episode. Thanks everyone.

Justice Mims (30:24):
Can I say one more thing before you add?

Alan Babbitt (30:26):
Absolutely.

Justice Mims (30:27):
Can I just do a little prayer? I don't know. It just slipped across my mind. Can I do a little prayer?

Alan Babbitt (30:30):
100%. Let's go.

Justice Mims (30:32):
Thank you. Thank you, Jesus, for just another amazing day in which you have given us a time in which your presence was with us as we were able to have these conversations. I pray that you just to reach out to somebody, Lord, and help us to see things through your eyes. Help us to have gratitude for every little thing that we have in his life, and I pray that you always go before us to everything that we do. In Jesus name, amen.

Alan Babbitt (30:53):
We got to end it, right? How do we end the conversation?

Justice Mims (30:57):
Dios te bendiga.

Samantha Smith (30:59):
Dios te bendiga.

Alan Babbitt (31:00):
Awesome. Thanks everyone.