Transcript

Haws at the line and two shots. It's a crazy feeling being at the free throw line, knowing that you've shot a million of them. But this is the one you have to make.

Well it definitely is a lot easier to watch your husband play basketball than it is to watch your son. There's a lot of emotion that goes into it when your son's out on the court. [UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE] stolen away by Jackson Emery. Now to Tyler Haws. Ty's ahead of the pack, and he dunks it. He dunks it again. Driving throw down by Tyler Haws. Often times people will say, "Well, of course he's good. Look at his dad. His dad was a great basketball player." And in my mind I say, "Oh, no. You don't know. You do not know how hard he has worked." I never was the most talented kid. But the one thing that my dad always taught me was that if we just work as hard as we can, good things are going to happen. When Tyler was in the third grade, he was cut from a team--a really good team--and was devastated. So Marty pulled him aside and told him, "Work harder than everybody and we'll put in the time." One of the things that we decided that we would do is we would get up early. And we would go over to the church and that we would just start working. We did so many drills in the summer. And it was repetition of those drills that made it so we could do them in the game. We would keep track. How many free throws have we made today? And we would do it in tens. We would try and shoot 100 a day and get a certain number. At first it was probably in the 60s or maybe 70s. And by the end, all you're doing is counting the misses.

It was so awesome to have him there and be willing to help me in those early mornings in the summer.

Matched it like it was nothing.

No. We didn't want him to see that. By 8 o'clock when I would take off and go to work, for me to have already spent two hours with him-- a great blessing in my life and I think in Tyler's development. The gift that Tyler has been given is he just works. He'll work and work and work. Sometimes maybe not having the most natural talent or ability is not the worst thing in the world. For Tyler it was "I will work hard." And lots of good things have come from that. Dear Elder Haws. You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Philippines. Oh my gosh. It's always been my plan to serve a mission. And I've made it a goal when I was a little kid in Primary to serve a mission. So a lot of people ask me, "Why are you leaving basketball? You have so much going for you. Why are you leaving right now? Is that hard for you?" And if I would be making this decision right now then it would be really hard. But just the fact that I made that decision a long time ago, it really has been an easy decision for me. As someone who has served a mission, to be able to go and be able to see how the gospel can have an influence on people's lives, that's a great blessing. And as a dad I'm really happy that Tyler will get to experience that.

As a mom it is tough. But for me I think of the happiness that the gospel brings me as a mother and having the relationship with all of my kids and knowing that it's eternal. I think if he can go and give that to another mom the same thing the gospel's given me, it's OK. I am so happy he's serving.

Doing OK, bud? Yeah. You know I love you. I love you too.

OK, buddy. All right.

To be a priesthood man is a lot more important than all of the other things. And we've been able to watch that progress as he was a deacon and a teacher and a priest and watch him magnify his calling, watch him serve, watch his leadership ability grow. And for us to see him honor his priesthood and know that that's an important thing in his life-- that's something that as a parent gives you a lot of satisfaction.

A mission has always been my plan. It's always been something I wanted to do. And I know that there's people in the Philippines that need the gospel and are waiting for me. And I know that when we put Heavenly Father first that He's going to bless us.

I just picture myself back at the church with my dad rebounding for me. And I just trust myself and trust that my hard work will pay off and it'll go in.

A Work in Progress

Description
His basketball dreams almost didn’t come true, but then Tyler Haws learned where hard work and dedication can lead.
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