WILL B.

I grew up thinking family was something you were either born into or left wishing you had. The family I grew up in didn’t know how to or didn’t want to show love and support. For a long time, I felt like I was on the outside of everything, watching other kids get picked up after school, laughing as they piled into a car with friends, brothers and sisters, heading home to homes that felt full - full of love and support- as I would find when I was able to spend the night at friends’ houses. Mine didn’t feel that way. It felt quiet, like I was always waiting for something to start. I didn’t know it then, but the thing I was waiting for was a team.

Sports found me before I found myself. I still remember the first day I walked onto the field, nervous and pretending I wasn’t. The other boys were already tossing a ball around, shouting, teasing each other like they’d known one another forever. I expected to be ignored.

Instead, someone threw me the ball. Just like that, I wasn’t watching from the outside anymore. I was on the inside; I was included and later felt love and included.

What surprised me wasn’t the game; it was the people. I learned quickly that a team is its own kind of family, a brotherhood. You show up for each other. You push each other. You get mad, you get over it, and you keep going. There were days when practice felt impossible, when my legs were heavy, and my confidence was thin. But there was always someone beside me saying, come on, we’ve got this. That “we” mattered. It made everything feel lighter.

Brotherhood wasn’t something I expected to find. It wasn’t something I even knew I needed. But it grew in the small moments: the crucible of two-a-days under the blistering Texas sun, the shared water bottles, the jokes in the locker room, the collective silence before a big game, the way we celebrated wins and losses elbow to elbow on the long bus rides home, either cheering and singing with the wins or the solemn silences we shared with the losses.

I started to understand that family isn’t just born of blood but also of the commitment and trust knowing someone will run beside you even when you’re tired, even when you’re scared, even when you’re not at your best, through every win and every loss.

Sports taught me that teamwork is more than cooperation. It’s believing in something bigger than yourself. It’s learning that your effort matters because it lifts everyone around you. It’s realizing that you’re never truly alone when you choose to belong.

I didn’t grow up with the tight bond and love in my family, but I found them in my teammates. I found a family stitched together by sweat, grit, and shared purpose.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped feeling like I was waiting for something. I had already found it, right there on the field, surrounded by the people who taught me what family really means.

This is Will B saying family can always be found outside the bond of blood if we open ourselves up to new things.