JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – 1st Lt. Justin Hammonds said he didn’t know what to expect playing in his first Armed Forces Basketball Tournament last fall.
For Hammonds, an intelligence officer with the 912th Air Refueling Squadron at March Air Reserve Base, California, it exceeded his expectations. He averaged 16.9 points and 9.1 rebounds per game to help the All-Air Force men’s basketball team finished second against the U.S. Army.
“It was a great group of guys and great competition,” said Hammonds, who was named to the All-Armed Forces Team that went on to win its second consecutive gold medal in the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe International Basketball Tournament in Mons, Belgium.
Here, Hammonds talks about basketball and what it means to compete for the Air Force:
Why compete in basketball?
I have loved basketball ever since I was about 12. My first sport was soccer but basketball grew on me when I started to grow in my legs and arms. I love the team aspect and the fast pace of the sport.
What's your experience in basketball before the AF?
I played basketball all through high school, year round, and also played for four years in college at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Since competing in basketball for the Air Force, what have you gained from an athletic, military and personal perspective?
Playing basketball for the Air Force showed me a lot of things. Most of the guys playing for (Department of Defense teams in the tournament) may or may not have gotten the chance I was blessed with to play in college. They are extremely hungry to play because they love the game just like me. I also thought it was awesome coming together with guys that I had never met before. We all came from different bases, states and even countries, but we all spoke the same basketball language.
What are you bringing back to your duty station by competing in basketball?
I’m bringing back some better leadership tools. As a captain on the team, I had to get guys to do the right thing and believe in what I was saying. They saw me as a teammate and not an officer. So that alone made my leadership experience different.
How is competing in basketball building your readiness and resiliency with your fellow Wingmen, your duty station and the Air Force as a whole?
Completing in basketball showed me that I still have what it takes to not only get through, but thrive in situations of high stress and adversity. Our first couple of days at camp were awful. We mostly ran, while touching a basketball very few times. To an outsider, you would have thought we were insane for signing up to come to camp and go through some very intense physical conditioning. But being able to have fellow Airmen there with me, going through the same struggles, made me want to fight even harder. Playing with AF on my chest gave me the extra motivation to really give everything I had every time I stepped on to the court. After going through that, there isn’t much I cannot handle as an intelligence officer back here at March.
For more information on the Air Force Sports program, click here.