Like the country it originated in, Basketball is a melting pot of serendipity. The game combines beauty, grace, intelligence, stamina, creativity, agility and strength, which only begin to scratch the surface of the myriad of skills required. Basketball is balletic and brutish, strategic yet spontaneous; calculated but cacophonous! Its tempo and unique display serve to entertain but basketball’s most important asset is that of educator.
It teaches commitment, dedication, cooperation, mental and physical toughness, camaraderie, losing, winning, teamwork, sacrifice, structure, individuality, joy and tears. Basketball humbles and challenges, giving lessons in life teaching the values of participating in a group, while sharing common goals.
Basketball teaches us to respect our opponent regardless of race, creed or color and to appreciate our similarities while learning to tolerate our differences. It breaks down the ignorance of isolation through cooperative participation. In the final analysis, it teaches the participants much about themselves. They learn how to endure, how to enjoy, and how to participate in life.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Bill Raynor is a veteran Basketball Coach, an educator, a mentor and a poet. As a coach he has had stops at Brown, Harvard and Holy Cross where he served as their head coach. Coach Raynor spent 12 successful seasons as the head coach at MassBay Community College before retiring in 2017. He has been inducted into the New England Basketball, Brown University and Catholic Memorial High School Halls of Fame.
