Courts Closed: Another COVID Story

Basketball is my life’s timeline.

Let me explain.

I can recall different stages of my life by when and where I was playing basketball at the time. Which team I was on can be a play by play on the maturation of my life. I write this at 30 but a lot closer to 31. 30 has been nothing short of eventful with my first experiences in fatherhood and world wide pandemic coming at the same time. I selfishly say that the pandemic year has been a blessing in disguise in my personal life. I only hope that for my future kids I am able to spend as my time with them in their early life as I was with my first. But despite all of this “time," none of it could be use one the courts. The courts were closed.

My life went quickly from all about basketball to basketball coming to a brink of existence in my lifestyle. At the beginning of 2020, about a month pre pandemic, I was wrapping up my 3rd year as a JV basketball coach, comfortably my most enjoyable year as a coach although all of them had been memorable. i feel that in this year i had the most reach on and off the court. many of the players on the team were young black men growing up in a high school over 95 percent white. I too grew up in a similar situation and could remember all the black teachers and coaches that I’ve had. i wanted to be an inspiration, a role model. I wanted to show them that I is ok to be yourself in this world. Unlike a lot of the more popular basketball leagues throughout the world, St. Thomas More 19-20 JV boys basketball team was able to finish the season, and we finished on top! Champions of the St. Joseph Tournament (My 2nd in 3 years) During my speech after the game I sent high praises to all the kids for their hard work put in to a successful season and made plans of frequent gatherings until the start of next season. Little did we all know that would be very far from reality. On March 11, 2020, just eight days after my teams championship game, the NBA suspended its season and the world continued to shut its doors to “stop the spread.” And just like that basketball was taken from me. Basketball was my job, my hobby, my talent. The court was my personal zen garden. There was a quick glimpse of hope when one day I went to the park to workout since by now all of the gyms were closed. I took my ball with me hoping to just get a couple of shots up and as I walked closer I heard the indistinct chatter mixed with the sound of the bouncing ball and I was ecstatic. I jumped on the court and played a couple of games and everything felt normal. I don’t remember exactly when, but I went back a few days later to see if there would be people playing again and to my surprise I was greeted with a court and backboards but no rims. NO RIMS!

Courts closed. No basketball, my timeline has halted. This chapter in my story is the time without basketball. When I was forced to move on.

There are many people like me, people who wanted nothing more then to be able to play basketball (or any sport) for a living and enjoy all the things that come along with that life. I wrote a rap when I was about 23 that said, “Play for the lakers or the clips, at least go overseas by the end of it” I lived a hoop dream and never really allowed myself to work towards other dreams. I never saw myself as more then a basketball player, although I never had the talent or just the work ethic to live a successful hoop dream. Moving on from basketball was and still is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. to quote my favorite musician, “I don’t want to be out here mopping up Wendys” (Cole is my favorite artist for lines like this, the relatability had been unmatched by any other artist) Working a job is a fear for a lot of former athletes. its like admitting failure, the sign to the world that you didn’t make it. Very rarely did i see a former teammate let go of the dream and transition smoothly to a non athlete lifestyle. the smoothest transitions were with the people who were able to keep the game a part of their life weather they went into coaching or training. I was lucky to make this transition (although it came 2 years after my hoop dream ended) in Champaign Ill, basketball became a major focal point of my life again. I was truly happy. So you can imagine how I felt when 3 years later basketball was not only taken from me but from the whole world.

It’s now been about a year since that experience at the park and the courts are back open in my city. I’ve been to the gym to play a few times, and despite my decrease in athleticism, everything on the court feels the same as it always did.

It was tough for me to move on. I felt that the world was forcing me to abandoned something that I loved. There is a lot more that I could be doing to help those kids, more than the same white male coaches that they have had their entire lives. The biggest regret is knowing that we would have been successful. But that is a major side effect of the pandemic year, many peoples lives changed instantly and uncontrollably.

So is this a basketball love story? I’m not really sure, although my love for the game definitively withstood the pandemic. This is just a story of change. and we learned how quickly life can change. And how much can change with out any say so from us. I know I am not alone when I say that since march of 2020, everything about my life has changed. Would you go back to march 2020 and keep life going as it was or are you happy for the pandemic year? There are so many different answers to that question.