1. To honor God the Father for His matchless gift of His Son Jesus Christ, Who died in our place.  If Jesus died for us, then we want to live for Him!
2. To bring people to the knowledge of the love of God through His Son Jesus Christ.
3. Like any challenge our third goal was to break the record.  One of the Bible verses that I remember when I am against something that I know that I can't do on my own strength is Phil. 4:13,  "I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength."  I knew that with the strength of the Lord, anything is possible, and He would see me through!

I started learning to spin the basketball when I was about 7 years old, after my older sister Tanya inspired me to spin.  I couldn't spin it at 7, but that is when I started to practice.  After I learned, we use to spin the ball all the time, but really never for consecutive hours.  We would spin and then try to do a trick with it and then let it stop.  After we read about the record, in my mind I knew that with God's help I could set the record, but before this, the longest I had ever spun one basketball before was a little over an hour, just to see if I could do it.  With January coming up, and with my travel schedule, it was very difficult to practice, so one week before I attempted the record officially, I made two 4 hour attempts at home on two consecutive days, to see if I could set the record.  By the Grace of God, both attempts were successful.  

The rules for the record say that you have to keep the ball spinning on one of your fingers.  You can switch fingers and hands, as long as the ball keeps spinning.  If the ball falls off, you are done.  Also, to do the record, it is best to do it in a public place.  So I contacted Scheels Sporting Goods Store in Sioux Falls, SD (the largest sporting goods store in the state) and told them about the idea and the managers were excited to help me out.  They agreed that if I went longer than the store hours, that they would keep a couple of people including a manager there as a witness for the record.  

What were the results of your attempt?

My son Isaiah, (14) went for 1 hour and 8 minutes.  Caleb (15) went for 1 hour and 16 minutes.  Jacob, (17), broke the record with me, & went for 8 hours and 46 minutes.  And by the Grace of God, who we honor with this "Spin 4 Him" (after my hands and fingers, arms and shoulders were completely sore) I was able to go for 22 hours and 12 minutes.  Some local TV stations did a story on this, and they apparently sent it in over the news wire, and from there, it went to the National News.

Did you take any breaks during the attempt?

Most people ask, "Did you take any breaks, like to eat or go to the bathroom?"  The answer is "no we did not".  We did eat and drink when we needed to and I also had to use the restroom on three occasions, but the basketball did not stop spinning!!  I won't go into anymore detail than that other than to say it was a challenge!  : ) 

This is the 5th time God has allowed me to attempt to break a Guinness World Record for Basketball Spinning.  (Four Records for spinning the most basketballs, and one for spinning one basketball the longest time).  We would like to honor and give all the credit to Jesus our Savior, the Holy Spirit our comforter, and our Heavenly Father.   

We submitted the information and the videos of the attempt to the Guinness people in London, England, and we did not get a favorable response from them.  They said they could not accept the record because I had switched fingers during my record breaking attempt.  Here are the rules as stated from Guinness:

1.           A standard competition basketball must be used for the attempt.  The basketball may not be modified in any way – the ball should be inspected by the two independent witnesses (see below) prior to the attempt so that they are able to determine whether the ball has been altered in any way.

2.           The attempt should not take place in a private dwelling but should take place in any suitable public place.

3.           The basketball should be spun on the end of one of the contestant’s fingers. 

4.           The spin must be initiated by the contestant.  No other person may touch the ball at any time during the challenge.

5.           The timing begins when the challenger releases his/her hand from spinning the ball.

6.           An experienced timekeeper should keep the time with an accurate stopwatch.

7.           If the ball stops spinning or falls off, the attempt is ended.

8.           The name of the person making the attempt should be given, along with the date and place.

Dear Marco Frigatti, Records Research Services

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=58785

You stated the following: "Zhao can spin the ball on any of his fingers, although he swapped between his thumb and index finger in his record breaking attempt."

Zhao can spin the ball on any of his fingers, although he swapped between his thumb and index finger in his record-breaking attempt. He can also perform the skill blindfolded! (Underlined emphasis mine)

During my record attempt, the ball was either on my thumb or my index finger, just like Zhao did. Because of this information, we would appreciate if you would once again, review the earlier record claim that we sent you. Thank you for your consideration in this matter, and we will look forward to hearing back from you. Thanks again for taking the time for this inquiry. If you have any questions, you can email me at spin@itctel.com or call me in the USA at 605-542-4101.