Fishart 2026 was a great camp, with workshops in a lot of categories, ranging from painting to photography to vocal and instrumental music to robotics and more. 

The Journalism Workshop team had a great time working on the History of Proem. The students worked hard, preparing for the interviews and then conducting them. The team also had to choose which parts of the interviews they wanted to use in the finished product, since we had less than 15 minutes of airtime available and more than an hour of interviews.

Just like in a real newsroom, where segments usually are limited to 90 seconds or less, the students had to leave valuable clips "on the cutting room floor."

They did a fantastic job with all of this. I would not be surprised to see some or all of them on Polish television in the years to come.

The main videographer was Nazar, and the extra footage was recorded by Kajetan.

Finally, plenty of thanks goes to my trusty assistant, Naomi, who did much of the technical work, turning the raw footage into the finished work.

Here's the edited version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALa8ubFoyOw 

If you want to see the interviews in their entirety, go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppLNhk0Q1C8 

Following God's Plan, Even When It's Different From Ours

Martynas Airosius had it all planned. He was raising funds to go to the United States to use basketball as a tool to reach young men with the message of Jesus Christ. He was baptized during the week of basketball camp in Zakosciele, and he saw how basketball could be the catalyst to help others.

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.” God had different plans for Martynas. He is more interested in where our hearts are than where our feet are, and He wanted Martynas to serve in a different way, in a different country.

Martynas was not able to raise enough funds to move to the U.S., so he stayed in his homeland of Lithuania. Soon things turned really sour. He got really sick at the end of September with pneumonia to the point that he was hospitalized.

“It was a hard and long process to come back to full health after my sickness,” he said. “The team that I played for asked me to come back sooner than I my body let me, but I had no choice. I started practicing again and started playing, but soon after I left the team. I really started to think that I would not play basketball anymore because I was not feeling good and my performance was abysmal.”

Basketball was what led him to the Lord, and basketball was going to be his vehicle to lead others to Him, so Martynas was struggling with that plan. But he’d learned to be obedient to God, even when he didn’t understand.

In early December, he got a call from his agent, telling him that the German team “Pointers” wanted him to try out for the team. He’s been in Germany for a couple of months, playing basketball professionally. After the season he plans to travel the world. And much like he has for the past several years, he probably will go to Zakosciele for basketball camp this July.

As long as it’s part of God’s plan.

More hoops action.

Here are a bunch of action shots from Artie Marx:

More Than Basketball

Nearly everyone who had been to basketball camp in the past would tell you they came for the basketball, but they keep coming back for other reasons. Basketball may be the platform, but there are many other things that add to the atmosphere.

There's great teaching...

fun extra activities like watching the World Cup semifinals on a big screen...

great morning and evening sessions...

and celebrating victories for eternity.

More of Artie's Pictures

Here are some more action shots from Zakosciele Basketball Camp 2018, courtesy of Artie Marx.

Sometimes size  is a hindrance.

 Alex is displaying a combination you won't see often in the U.S.

Artie's pictures

I hope you're all doing well. Here are the first few pictures of basketball camp taken by Artie Marx from Owensboro, Kentucky. I'll post more each week for a while.

Some people were really anxious for camp to start.

The first session was filled with anticipation.

Maciej and Daniel were our hosts for the week.

Let the games begin!

More photos will be added soon.

Champions Are Crowned

Friday was a day for championships.

First, in international competition, the Lithuanian women defeated Poland for the title. Here is a photograph of both teams together. Poland's players are in red, Lithuania's players are in white. Lie-tu-va!

On the men's side, the Ukrainians defeated Lithuania 1. Again here are both teams together, with the Ukrainians in gold and the Lithuanians in white. U-kra-i-NAH!

In the WNBA, the Aces knocked off the top seeded Mystics to win the championship. Led by Coach Amber, here are the Aces!

In the NBA Eastern Conference, the seventh- (and lowest-) seeded Wizards knocked off the Knicks. Here are the champion Wizards with Coach Gary!

In the Western Conference, Coach Eric led the Thunder to victory and the championship over the Warriors. Here are the victorious Warriors!

The three-on-three winners were:
WNBA: Fortuna over Majestic Monkeys
NBA Eastern Conference: Klausinian over Ben 10
NBA Western Conference: 2 Peat over Zako Mix

The individual award winners were as follows (please forgive me if I misspelled your name):

WNBA
Ms. Hustle: Polina Kobut
Best Attitude: Kamile Mickute
MVP: Malgorzata Murza

NBA Eastern Conference
Mr. Hustle: Mikolai Dzikowski
Best Attitude: Jon Malick
MVP: Titas Brazas

NBA Western Conference
Mr. Hustle: Eugene Kostyvkevich
Best Attitude: Kiryl Mikhailav
MVP: Mintautas Makus

Thanks for all the participation! See you next year.