In an article in the deseret news that you can see from clicking here, his father, Dave Hartsock, was quoted as saying: "We're fortunate all our kids have turned out well. Noah works hard, he's got a good disposition. We haven't been trying to make basketball players, we've tried to make good men and if he turns out to be a good basketball player in the process that's good and we're really happy for him." Noah is known for taking things as they come and continuing on just as happy as before. An example of that was Christmas 2010 he was driving home with his wife early morning Christmas Eve and their car flipped on some ice. The injuries were few and he finished the season with his normal demeanor and good play. Click hear to read more.
"We haven't been trying to make good basketball players, we've tried to make good men" -- he says. As a parent I try to think to make that my goal as well to help our children be good women and men rather than to give them some competitive advantage in a field of work or a sport.
I would hope that all parents would do the same, try to raise their children so they are good people. Being good people has much more advantage in life than some other training we may give them. Having a home that trains family members to be good people has a much more long term advantage than training in sports or even accounting, engineering or even social work. The advantages go beyond getting a job with a decent salary. Being a good man has advantages that goes even beyond life into the eternities.
There have been some times in my life when I had to remember that I wasn't raising a great swimmer, basketball player, world renowned artist or even spelling bee champ, but instead was raising some great girls who were just good people. Remembering that changed some actions and emphasis we put on things in our family.
If you really do want to know more about Noah's basketball playing and stats you can go here to see more info about that.
I think you did an awesome job, dad (and mom!!!), if I may say so myself ;) I miss playing basketball and swimming, and I don't have time to work on art as much as I'd like, but I try to spend all my time being a good person as I go through my day at work, grocery shopping, or being at home with Mike. Thanks for helping me to invest my efforts into being a good person because I feel more rewarded by that than anything else! sounds like Hartsock's parents had the same idea ;) I will have to remember this for when I'm a parent :)
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