BALLING OUT: Clarke Central High School foreign language department teacher Aaron Gibbs poses with basketball. Gibbs has fostered a passion for the sport since his youth in south Georgia, and associates basketball with his close relationships to his family. “(My brother and I) played in high school together. We played in college together. He’s two years older than me. We still play together, in like tournaments and things,” Gibbs said. Photo by Chad Rhym.
By CHRISTINA KURIAN – Staff Writer
Clarke Central High School foreign language department teacher Aaron Gibbs incorporates his passion for basketball into teaching Spanish.
Not every Spanish class begins with the teacher challenging students to a one-on-one basketball tournament. But Clarke Central High School foreign language department teacher Aaron Gibbs does just that.
“When I think about basketball, it was just a love. It was something I loved to do. I loved competing against other players. I loved practice. I loved to improve. It was almost like playing against myself, like challenging yourself,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs started teaching at CCHS in 2012. He presents every class with a challenge: a one-on-one basketball match in return for dinner. Students have taken up the challenge Gibbs proposed, but he is yet to be defeated.
The challenge still remains.
“If anyone can beat me one-on-one (in basketball), I’ll buy them dinner,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs was born in Fitzgerald, Ga. but was raised in Tifton, Ga. His interest in basketball came from his family who were all involved in a variety of sports, especially basketball. Gibbs was always competing with his family members.
“(My brother and I) played in high school together. We played in college together. He’s two years older than me. We still play together, in like tournaments and things,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs has been playing basketball for as long as he can remember. His love of basketball had been instilled in him as his father was a high school basketball coach.
“Even when (my dad) wasn’t my actual coach, he would always be kind of in the stands coaching anyways,” Gibbs said.
His father influenced an important aspect of his life. His dad was always his favorite coach even if he wasn’t always coaching him.
“My dad had a whistle, not an actual whistle. Like, he would go *makes sound.* And so, even if I was in high school, when he wanted to tell me something, he would go *makes sound* and I would look up at him and he would say, ‘Shoot the ball!’ or whatever he would say. So, he was always coaching, even if it was on the sidelines,” Gibbs said.
“My dad had a whistle, not an actual whistle. Like, he would go *makes sound.* And so, even if I was in high school, when he wanted to tell me something, he would go *makes sound* and I would look up at him and he would say, ‘Shoot the ball!’ or whatever he would say. So, he was always coaching, even if it was on the sidelines,” Gibbs said.
His father passed away in 2006 of liver cancer and this immensely affected Gibbs and his family.
“My family puts on a basketball tournament in my dad’s memory. He passed away in 2006 of liver cancer. And, we started a scholarship in his memory. Every year we do a basketball tournament, a three on three basketball tournament to raise money for the scholarship. That’s every March, we’ve done that five years,” Gibbs said.
His love for basketball still continued after his father’s death.
“Some of my most vivid memories are just the daily battles of practice of just giving it your all, not thinking you’re going to make it through practice and then it’s over. And, you look at your teammates and just know you made it one more day,” Gibbs said.
Even though he played other sports like baseball and football throughout his life, he was never involved in them like he was in basketball. He played basketball throughout his whole life and still continues to do so.
“Elementary, middle and high school. I remember after college ended, I thought about it and I realized I had been year round training for nine straight years. Like, all during the school years, I was playing or practicing. And then, in the summer I was playing tournament ball,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs majored in Spanish at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Ga. Although his passion for basketball was strong, he knew he wanted to pursue a career in the field of Spanish.
“When I finished playing in college, I think I could have continued to pursue basketball. I couldn’t have played professionally in the U.S. But I think I could have played professionally in like Mexico or some of those smaller countries. But I wanted to do something else that I felt like would impact other people rather than just chasing what I wanted to do,” Gibbs said.
Clarke Central High School foreign language department teacher Aaron Gibbs conducts his class by explaining how to write a Spanish poem on Oct. 30. Students had just completed an activity in the textbook.“I like some of the activities that he does. I feel like a lot of his activities that we do are better to my knowledge in Spanish than others that I’ve learned in other classes,” sophomore Keegan Caudill said. Photo by Chad Rhym.
Realizing he couldn’t make a living off basketball, he turned his focus away from just sports.
“Sports aren’t going to last forever. You may keep playing but they aren’t going to pay your bills. Maybe for .01 percent of the population, they go on to play professionally. But for the rest of us, you have to take that passion and that endurance you had for sports and now put it towards teaching or put it towards any job that’s going to make you feed your family, pay your rents, so… sports teach us a lot but we can’t hold on to them too long,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs soon came to realize he wanted to be a Spanish teacher and found himself at CCHS. Students have found Gibbs’ teaching style helpful and challenging for their improvements in Spanish.
“I like some of the activities that he does. I feel like a lot of his activities that we do are better to my knowledge in Spanish than others that I’ve learned in other classes, specifically last year,” sophomore Keegan Caudill said.
His passion for sports has led him to live his life with a deep philosophy.
“Sports can give you something to fight for, some kind of purpose and so you learn work ethic, like you learn fighting through difficulty. You learn to get along with others. You learn to work as a team,” Gibbs said. “So, I think about, even as a teachers, all the challenges that are here. As hard as I worked to be a good basketball player, I want to work just that hard to be a teacher.”
