Long Shot

By Leah Church

The chance of playing on any Division 1 college basketball team ... 1.3%. The chance of playing at your dream school ... practically 0%.

It was a long shot to say the least. The road to Chapel Hill would begin early in Leah's young life and be comprised of mountain-tops and valleys and sunshines and storms. The journey was one of the highest of highs and lowest of lows. It would be a path that tested, challenged and grew her faith.

The path to dreams is often found to have side paths and crossroads with different options. Unforeseen roadblocks can make navigation difficult, often trying your faith and testing your strength.

Leah kept going ... and with God made the long shot. You will be encouraged and challenged by her testimony.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Energion Publications
• Release date: Dec 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9781631998744

Book preview

Desires of the Heart

Delight yourself in the Lord

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

— Psalm 37:4

Down three points to No. 15 Duke with four seconds left in regulation, North Carolina women’s basketball head coach Sylvia Hatchell drew up a play. Who did Hatchell trust to shoot with the game on the line? It wasn’t Paris Kea, a preseason All-ACC Team pick who finished the game with 36 points and five made threes. It wasn’t Jamie Cherry, the senior leader known for her clutch late-game shooting. It was Leah Church, a first-year averaging 3.1 points a game.

(Daily Tar Heel newspaper,

Take me to Church, January 22, 2018)

It would take a long shot. But first things first…

A little 7-year-old girl would write, I want to play for the Carolina girls when I grow up. I have been practicing basketball and running laps around my house. I am trying to keep in shape if I ever make it to the Carolina girls. These are the words found in my homeschool newspaper, The Family Journal. Don’t most children aspire to be famous, a pro, or celebrity? They have dreams and hopes of reaching lofty heights and being known. My dream would begin before I could even write those tell-tale words. The writing was on the wall, as they say, but it often would look blurred and sometimes even erased.

Most kids have a bent towards playing with balls when they are just a baby and ball is often a child’s first word. So, my parents didn’t give it too much thought when I was constantly playing and throwing balls, at a young age. However, at about age three they say there was just something different. Ball is all I wanted to do. It started with our church league, Upward Basketball. My dad was a pastor at Millers Creek Baptist Church and the head coordinator for our county’s Upward League. Naturally, I thought that I would be on a team and playing basketball that season. Unfortunately, Upward had an age requirement of 5-years-old. My little heart was broken, as I saw my older sister, Taylor, playing ball, yet I was not allowed. To smooth things over, my dad got me a jersey, whereby the smallest size still dragged the floor. Dad even let me participate in the evaluations used to balance the team’s talent level. This included things such as dribbling around cones, passing, and shooting on a lowered goal. People said that I scored higher on the evaluation, as a 3-year-old, than some of the older kids who participated. Maybe that’s when my parents knew that basketball just might be my thing.

The next year of Upward rolled around and an exception was given for me to play up a year. Boy, was I happy! I got out my Carolina Tar Heel arm bands, put one on each arm, and donned my Carolina headband. These were the thick retro ones, not the thinner head ties that are a bit more stylish these days. Looking back at pictures, I laugh at myself, as I really thought I was the stuff. I played with reckless abandon, too. In Upward Basketball there was a rule for the younger kids that you can’t pick up your man on defense until the offense crosses the half-court line. Well, I decided that I would be waiting for whoever crossed that line with the basketball. As soon as they stepped over, I would strip them of the ball and score a lay-up. Each week, the coaches gave out stars for things such as defense, offense, sportsmanship, Christlike-ness, effort, etc. I guess it is no surprise that almost every week, I got the offense award. The Christlike-ness award went to the kid that didn’t pressure the ball! Even at that young age, all I wanted to do was shoot and score. Whether that was good or bad, shooting was a passion and a love that I must have had from birth.

During those early years, my dad would take me to the church’s gym almost every afternoon and let me shoot on the lowered 8-foot goal. I always wanted to go and shoot with my big sis on the 10-foot, but Dad wanted me to learn technique first. So I just shot, shot, shot, and shot. To this day, no one has ever taught me how to shoot. Shooting was a God-given talent that the Lord used to shape my life and my path. This was just the beginning of a long, yet miraculous, journey in which there have been ups and downs, victories and failures, tears and laughter, doubts and fears, and moments I wanted to give up on my dream. It is a story of a little girl from Purlear, a small town in Wilkes County, NC. It is a story of a little girl who was determined to play basketball at the University of North Carolina despite being barely 5’8, homeschooled, and sub-par on the athleticism spectrum. It’s a story about a girl who relied on her faith in Jesus, found her strength in her family, and made up her mind to never let the naysayers" stop her from pursuing her dreams. This is the story of a little girl with a big dream who served a big God. Thanks for joining me as I share my journey!

Chapter 1

The Early Years

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord …

— Psalm 127:3a

I was born in Wilkes County, NC and have lived in the small town of Purlear, NC since I was three-years-old. Most people have no clue of the location of this little town of just over 2,000 people, so I usually just say, I live thirty minutes down the mountain from Boone. Many tend to know where this college town is located, as it is known for Appalachian State football, beautiful fall leaves, and ski slopes.

I was raised in a Christian family, where my dad was a pastor and my mom stayed home with me and my older sister, Taylor. Taylor is three years and three months older than me and, although my polar opposite, she is my best friend. People are often flabbergasted when we say we never fought. Well, there was that one time that we got in an argument and Mom made us put 50 cents in a jar every time, thereafter, that we said something mean to one another. That solved the problem quickly, because I’m tight with my money. My dad says I squeak when I walk. So, once I realized that the dumb thing we were mad at each other about (of which I don’t remember) was costing me money, I got over it. Anyway, when people asked how we always got along so well, Mom attributed it to reinforcing how fortunate we were to have each other. She would tell us that out of all the sisters and girls in the world, the Lord chose us for each other to be best friends. We were constantly told how blessed we were to have one another, and fighting was never an option or allowed. I think that this mindset helped us, but it also made a difference that Taylor was the kindest person on the face of the planet and did everything and anything for me. I was the strong-willed kid who pushed the boundaries and quite often got a well-deserved spanking. Taylor was the kid who got one spanking … literally one spanking her whole life. That lone moment occurred when Taylor disobeyed and got out of her toddler bed. Mom claims that I had a bit of a rebellious streak in me, was hard-headed, and strong-willed, but she always knew that my personality would serve me well as I got older. Reeling it in at a younger age was sometimes the painful part. I am grateful for the discipline and love that my mom and dad showed me while growing up. It helped mold me into who I am today.

Our parents felt called to homeschool me and Taylor from the very beginning. They believed that they should live out Deuteronomy 6:7 which says, You shall teach them (the Lord’s laws/ways) diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. They felt that the only way for them to live this out was by homeschooling us. I am thankful they were obedient to God’s calling, as it was one of the greatest blessings of my life. I was able to spend time with my mom and sister, who are now my best friends. I was protected from outside influences and was taught the ways of the Lord. I hear so many sad stories about the bullying that takes place in some school settings and the negative effects it can have on children. Although homeschooling was a sacrifice for my parents, they were intent on protecting me and Taylor. My mom had a master’s degree in education and was teaching first grade in a public school when Taylor was born and made the decision to give up her career to stay home and teach her girls. At that time, my dad was a high school baseball coach and physical education teacher. The thought of moving to only one salary was daunting, but they trusted the Lord with it.

There were occasions when money was tight and one time, we didn’t have enough money to get groceries. It was almost pay day, but that summer evening, we didn’t have any food for supper. However, Taylor had gone to Vacation Bible School earlier that week, and the church workers had given out Burger King Happy Meal cards. She was given four cards. Mom says that we ate happy meals that evening, and Dad got paid the next day. Since they took that step of faith, the Lord always provided and made a way. He seems to do that when you walk in obedience.

I grew up living beside my cousins, Katy and Kandace, who were also homeschooled. Katy was about the age of Taylor and Kandace was my age. Many afternoons were spent playing at the creek, in the playhouse, or in their above-ground pool. Looking back, I am so grateful I had a childhood that was void of technology and social media. Instead, life consisted of the outdoors, our imaginations, and physical activity.

The four of us were a motley crew. Katy, the oldest, was the ringleader of the group, Taylor, the reasonable, rule follower, Kandace, the head strong, charismatic one, and I was the tomboy, who was into everything. There are so many stories I could tell. One day our moms told us not to get wet, in the creek. But four kids, under the age of ten, have short memories. One thing led to another, and we were all sopping wet, from head to toe. We ran to our playhouse in the backyard and took off all our wet clothes and laid them on the playhouse porch to dry. We were hoping the clothes would dry before we had to go back inside, to face our moms. Obviously, my mom saw that there were clothes laid out all over the playhouse and came out to see what was going on. She opened the door and found all four of us naked and huddled inside. I think because we were such a hilarious sight, we avoided getting in trouble that day. Then, there was the time that Katy convinced me to get in the creek on a snow sled. It will float just like a boat, she said. Of course, it didn’t, and I sunk. I was soaked to the bone on that cool fall day and so mad at Katy. On another occasion, Taylor claimed to have seen a snake in the creek and we ran (screaming at the top of our lungs) all the way up the hill to my house. To this day, we are still unsure whether it was a real snake-sighting or a figment of her imagination.

Katy was the drama leader and had us perform plays growing up. I was always the boy and played parts like Linus, in our Charlie Brown Christmas play. We would charge our grandparents for admission to come see our shows and take up their cell phones so as not to disturb the production. Once the lights were dimmed and we passed out our brochure, it was all business. Man, our family members were good sports. There were many memories that I will hold onto forever and I truly believe those experiences were an essential foundation in my life.

Chapter 2

Bleed Carolina Blue

And this is the confidence that we have toward him,

that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

— 1 John 5:14

During my childhood years and in addition to basketball, I also played softball and soccer. I weeded out soccer rather quickly but stuck with softball for several years. I was almost better in softball than I was in basketball. I made the all-star team every year and won more game balls than I had places to put them. I played for as long as I could in coach-pitch, but when fast-pitch rolled around, I made the decision to stick with just basketball. I have heard many people say that it’s better to be a multi-sport athlete. I would say, To each their own. I don’t know that I would have been as successful a basketball player if I had played multiple sports. Plus, I truly loved the game, and I didn’t have a desire to play anything else. I lived and breathed basketball.

I don’t necessarily know what started this intense love of the game. Neither of my parents played basketball. Mom was a cheer leader and ran track in high school and my dad played football and baseball. However, my paw-paw played basketball in college and so did my