CYO is great. I got cut by my HS basketball team and joined a CYO team. We scrimmaged the HS team and beat them by 40. I scored 22. Such sweet revenge. Shook the coaches hand afterwards - “Nice game Coach”. That was the highlight of my athletic career:)
It was fun, and largely equal competition level.
HS team was for black guys with a tall white guy and an excellent shooting white guy.
CYO was for people like me. :)
I played CYO soccer in Thailand of all places, there were no openings at the international school so I attended a Catholic School for 2 years. Thai nuns were “mean” but I went back years later and I went to that Catholic School and there were four sisters still there and they remembered me cuz I was one of a few white faces in the crowd, and I wasn’t Catholic. They were wonderful & they loved us. I appreciate that.
I also treated them to dinner that night, it was a fun day and one that I hold dear.