Summer Fruit #MCZoo

Summer 2016 Fruit

The latest piece from #MCZoo's Art Appreciation course at EPCC.

Citizen of the World, Arthur Ashe

One of our mentorship posts from the every1plays.org archive.

Citizen of the World, A Note on #Mentors, Arthur Ashe & a Langston Hughes Poem

Citizen of the World, A Note on #Mentors
Arthur Ashe & a Langston Hughes Poem

I’m subscribed to receive one DVD from Netflix including the streaming access.  This past summer a DVD arrived about legend Arthur Ashe titled Citizen of the World, directed by Julie Anderson.  The film is a look into the life of a legendary athlete I was aware of, but knew very little about.

One of the details the film revealed was a note about Arthur Ashe’s mentor, Dr. R.W. Johnson.  In a previous Every1Plays post, I talked about one of my mentors.  The film made me think about some of today’s athletes and who they identify as mentors.

I highly recommend the film Citizen of the World.  Ashe lived a life of memorable accomplishments and extreme challenges including his fight to live after having contracted HIV during a heart bypass surgery in the 80s.  This was at a time of ruthless stigma, prejudice, and negativity against those living with HIV and/or advocating on its behalf.  Til’ this day, advocates work tirelessly to educate and raise awareness on issues like stigma that continues to occur across the country and around the world..

Above is a photograph of Arthur Ashe with several others including his mentor.  I included a link to the Arthur Ashe documentary on Amazon below.  If you’re a teacher or coach looking to school your students on Arthur Ashe, the game of tennis, and why this film is titled Citizen of the World, I’d suggest you check it out!

In the film, it included reference to a poem by Langston Hughes I believe is titled “To You”.

To Sit and dream, to sit and read,

To sit and learn about the world outside

Our world of here and now – our problem world-

To dream of vast horizons of the soul

Through dreams made whole, unfettered, free – help me!

All you who are dreamers too, help me make the world anew.

I reach out my dreams to you. 

by Langston Hughes

Citizen of the World / Amazon.com: click here

Team USAB’s Core Values

Team USAB’s Core Values
#together
#play
#learning
#work
#friendship

#every1plays

As the world gets a glimpse of the Golden State Warriors starting core in the Rio 2016 summer games, I want to go back to 2015 after GS secured a historic 16 consecutive wins to open the season. At the time, Head Coach Steve Kerr was out having underwent back surgery, placing the responsibility of the X’s and O’s on assistant coach Luke Walton.  In an NBATV broadcast following GS’s 16th win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Warriors commentator Laurence Scott introduced viewers to a story about the team’s core values.  The broadcast included insight from Coach Walton and the Warrior’s power forward Draymond Green.  It also included a shot of a dry erase board in the Warrior’s lockeroom with the following core values written in the order listed below:

Competition

Compassion

Mindfulness

Joy

Written in another marker color below the main four was a note that read 5th Man “Togetherness”.

My younger brother Josh got all of us brothers involved in assisting the Team USA basketball club.  He’s been coaching the group for close to five years now.  Like any team, the squad has experienced plenty of ups and downs. Thinking about some of the team’s struggles at the time, I was inspired by what I saw on the Warriors broadcast about their core values.  I thought about how those core values that Coach Kerr instilled as a foundation for the team’s success would translate over to a children’s basketball club.

In the NBATV broadcast Coach Walton mentioned “joy” was the most important of the core values.  He talked about how important it was to have fun, especially since an NBA season is so long.  By the time the Finals ended in 2016, the Warriors played more than 100 games.

After watching the broadcast, I thought about coming up with our own core values that we could share with the children of Team USA. Coach Walton only mentions four core values in the broadcast, but on the dry erase board there was reference to a 5th, “Togetherness”

For our squad we kept “Togetherness” as one of our values that we simply refer to as Together.  We promote ‘Together’ as a value to say that we win and lose as a team, together.

The next core value inspired by the Warriors concept of fun, we changed to Play.  Regardless whether we win or lose, everyone or “every1” must have the opportunity to ‘Play’.  This core value was also inspired by an old Santana song titled ((Let the Children Play)).

Play is followed by the core value of Learning.  Even the greatest of the great will tell you how much they continue to learn and the importance of practice.  So for our squad, we identify each practice and game as a learning experience.  And following the each one teach one philosophy, we also believe that we all have something to teach ourselves and each other.  Therefore, we consider our failures and accomplishments ‘Learning’ experiences.

Our next core value is Work.  While we want to stress the importance of having fun, we also emphasize the importance of respecting hard ‘Work’ as essential to becoming the best we can be.  We emphasize this through our commitment to practice and other responsibilities in our lives that make us whole.  Whether that’s commitment as a student to school and teachers, commitments as a big brother or big sister, commitment to our parents, commitment to church, and our general commitments to help each other excel.

Our final value for our children’s basketball club is Friendship.   I was inspired by Coach Kerr's core value of compassion.  Instead we chose the word 'Friendship' to help our players understand that as teammates they should care about each other.  Beyond the court, our intent is to promote a bully free environment that children can begin to conceptualize through the values of friendship.

At the end of some of our practices we ask children from the Team USA basketball club if they remember the five core values.  At times we’ll also focus on one core value at a time and connect it to something we learn during practice.  For example, if the children are fatigued from running and putting in work during drill stations we’ll discuss the importance of ‘Work’.  If we notice kids getting upset with one another during practice we’ll emphasize values of ‘Friendship’.  If we come off of a big win or loss from a city league game, we’ll talk about what it means to experience those moments ‘Together’.  Or if one of the children is getting better at a particular basketball skill that they want to demonstrate to the team, we highlight these moments as ‘Learning’ moments.

These core values help provide structure and opportunities for coaches, youth athletes, and families to reflect on their involvement with the game of basketball.  Our athletes are still in the beginning stages of their development as adolescents and how they think.  For many, its their first time stepping foot on a court for organized play.  It’s a special time for how they see themselves and imagine their futures in the game of hoop.  It’s a game that can open up a lifetime of healthy activity and that has the potential to compliment academic improvement, community involvement, and even professional opportunity way into their adult years.

If you run a basketball club for youth and have or are planning to develop your own set of core values we’d love to hear from you.

Assistant Coach Lee

e1pWWW

References

Scott, Laurence. “Warriors Core Values.” NBA.com. National Basketball Association, 25 Nov. 2015. Web <http://www.nba.com/warriors/video/teams/warriors/2015/11/25/1448494486160-warriorswednesday112515web.mp4-137435>.

How I Became a Champion

A #every1reads post from our world wide web archive at every1plays.org

Shout out to our main man Juan!

Every1Reads

Unstoppable from Underdog to Undefeated:
How I Became a Champion

This afternoon I was reading the October 2014 issue of Muscle & Fitness when I flipped the page to the Edge Inspiration section titled ‘Pinning His Hopes’ about D-1 wrestling champion Anthony Robles by Ben Radding.  The page  included a note that said, “Read Up, Robles is the author of Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated“.  The book was published by Gotham last year.  I checked out a couple of interviews on YouTube included below with Anthony Robles promoting the book and sharing his inspiring story.  There’s a lot more to come from Robles including a documentary, talks about a movie on his life, ESPN work, more motivational speaking, and the possibility (if the time is right) to return to the mat for a shot at the 2016 Olympics.  The YouTube videos are linked below.  Check them out!

This begins a category of this website we’ve titled Every1Reads.  As we stumble across books we’d like to recommend or write reviews for, we’ll post them on our website under the category Every1Reads.  This is to encourage athletic programs to promote reading amongst athletes.  Especially with the amount of travel teams have to do… what best than to fill that down time with reading?  As a coach, do you promote recreational reading with athletes?  This question applies to teams of all ages.

A request we’d like to throw out there, especially for school coaches… as athletes put in time to excel in sport activity, make reading activity a part of their program too.  Perhaps some of the book recommendations we post will encourage you to pass the word.  Or maybe it’ll encourage you to purchase copies for your athletes to discuss over the course of the season.  Or maybe you can request these titles for the school library or encourage your athletes to get some time in to visit and support their local libraries and book stores.  There are thousands of sports stories documented in text out there stretching far back in history to the present day, from males and females, of all sports, ages, and circumstances.  You never know, one of those stories may be on your roster working their way towards triumph.

Every1Reads.

e1pWWW

My Brother & Me

My Brother & Me
'Basketball Tryouts' Episode: click here

Growing up there was nothing  like My Brother & Me and what it represented for kids that grew up as big brothers.  This show had it all.  The music, the basketball, the video games, the diversity, and the family.  For the short time that it lasted it was one of the coolest shows on earth.  Reminds me of a verse from a song... "Back in the days when I was young I'm not a kid anymore but somedays I sit and wish I was a kid again..." -Ahmad

#Lee

Featured Link: chessat3.com

Featured Link chessat3.com

Twitter.com/chessat3 @chessat3

I was introduced to chess by an old friend many years ago and have either played or thought about the game every single day ever since.  Chess became a target for my camera, a part of my program activities, and a part of my daily energy.  I've played a bunch of games against people, losing many and winning some.  I didn't get introduced to the game formally until well into my twenties.  It's never too late. At every1plays we're always about encouraging the game and playing when we get the chance.  

I found out about Chess at Three from a good friend who works in the early childhood arena and it was great to learn that there is a program out there pushing for chess to be merged in the classroom for the little ones.  When Grandmaster Susan Polgar came to visit the Sun City she stressed the same message which at the time was all new to me.

Check out Chess at Three and if you have children in day care or pre-K/elementary ask their teachers or administrators what they're doing during the school day to engage children in the game of chess. 

Chess At Three is the featured link for #e1plinks for the start of July.  Check out our tweet below which includes a video about the program. If you're on Twitter click on the image below and retweet!

  #Lee aka #EPmijo

Muhammad Ali & Childhood

Thinking about Muhammad Ali, 

Childhood & the Audacity to Dream

by #Lee aka #EPmijo

I've been a fan of boxing for a majority of my life.  My earliest memories came in the form of a video game from the 80s that Nintendo released called Mike Tyson's Punchout.  I was in the 3rd grade.  I remember the first time I got to play the video game was at my friend Charles' house.  He had just recently moved into the neighborhood but was only there for a short time.  At one point my mom invited, him, his mother and grandmother to stay at our house for a couple of days.  I don't remember why.  I remember one day when my neighborhood friends and I visited his house to see if he could come outside his mom asked us if we were hungry and welcomed us in for some burritos.  As I walked into the two story home, there was barely any furniture.  All I remember seeing was a small TV on the floor with a bunch of wires that connected to a Nintendo.  We all gathered around the TV set with my friend Charles and played Mike Tyson's Punchout.  

My favorite video games were always sport ones like Double Dribble, Tecmo Bowl, Blades of Steel, Bad New Baseball, Track & Field, Excite Bike, and even volleyball games like Super Spike.  I spent as much time as my friends would allow borrowing Mike Tyson's Punchout.  It's the earliest recollection I have of boxing which became my gateway into the real world of boxing as a fan.  

Before this moment I was introduced to the art of fighting through karate.  My Dad trained in Taekwondo since before I was born and had already achieved his black belt.  He brought me along to the dojo where he trained and signed me up when I was about six years old.  I started off as a white belt and ended as a white belt.  My memory of this experience was all bad. I had the most difficult time comprehending what they were teaching me.  The most traumatic moment was when it was my turn to spar.  All I remember was being smothered with kicks and punches to my body guard.  It was my last memory of ever walking inside the dojo again.

Shortly after that, I started watching boxing fights on the USA Network every Tuesday night with my Dad.  I had a virtual boxing bug playing Mike Tyson's Punchout but was in awe of the real and raw talent of fighters who were on the come up... boxers such as Roy Jones, Jr. Oba Carr, Pernell Whitaker, James Toney, Bernard Hopkins, Oscar De Lay Hoya, and others.  I was also introduced to the names of guys that had been in the game for a while like Larry Holmes, Roberto Duran, and Hector Camacho.  Up to this point, the "who's who" of the boxing world was all new to me.  My first passion was basketball, so I spent a majority of my time playing the sport outside and collecting basketball trading cards.  

Of course I knew Mike Tyson was real, but my only exposure to his likeness in 1990 was through a video game character.  When I started to follow real boxers for the first time, Tyson was already entering another turning point in his career outside of the ring.  What I knew about boxing was limited to what I saw on the USA Network and maybe a couple of nights where HBO or Showtime extended a free weekend through our cable provider.  Those nights when the free weekend preview fell on a boxing night made me feel like the luckiest kid in the world.

Boxing became such a big part of how me and my Dad bonded that he signed us up for boxing lessons at the Nations Tobins gym in the early 90s.  It was one of the most memorable moments of my life with my father and the most challenging too.  Especially the cardio, jump rope, hand wrap, and the offense and defensive combinations we exchanged with the trainer.  The trainer's name was John.  The boxing space was as hot as an oven, especially during the summer and made even more humid because of the funk of sweat and body odor.  The boxing room was furthest from the entrance which made it feel furthest from breathable air.  It was a suffocating place to exercise.  It was also an intimidating space to be in especially when Blue trained.  Blue was a real fighter and massive like a bear with dark brown skin. I imagined then that he must've been a super hairy heavy weight. I think he got his nickname from his dark blue eye color.  I could barely tell from the few glances I tried to avoid as he paced back and forth breathing like a hulk.  Similar to my experience with karate, the lessons I got from John were just as complex and difficult for me to understand.  Right away I simply felt like I wasn't built for any sort of fighting.  One memory I recall was when the trainer John asked me to put up my hands and make a fist.  He looked at the slant in my knuckles and told me how weak my hands were and how we'd have to work on that.  I didn't have any desire to fight but I really enjoyed this time with my Dad. It also was a really cool feeling being able to have some sort of real life connection to what boxers do since my fandom continued to increase every time I watched Tuesday Night Fights.  

Since we were visiting the boxing gym on a weekly basis my Dad found out that a well known boxer by the name of Oscar De La Hoya was going to visit the gym to promote his upcoming fight.  The event was free and open to the public.  I couldn't wait to meet De La Hoya who I knew of from a couple of televised fights.  At the time he was just starting to make a name for himself.  The crowd that morning was just a few people as we lined up to meet De La Hoya and get his autograph.  About a year later when he returned as champ, those lines turned into crowds of mostly women.  We got the chance to talk to De La Hoya who signed all kinds of stuff that I brought from magazine cut outs and fliers I picked up at the gym.  My Dad recorded our encounter with De La Hoya on camera.  He asked the soon to be champ if he could show us his lethal hands and make fists.  Thinking back to this memory it reminds me of when the trainer asked me to put up my fists.

Even though I never had the heart or confidence to step foot in a ring, I kept up with my favorite fighters on USA Network.  By the time I got to middle school I became so interested in boxing that I started doing school projects about it.  At the Fort Bliss Mickelsen Library I found out about the "Brown Bomber" Joe Louis and designed a biographical poster that my teacher thought was so good she asked to keep it. Around the same time, I became much more passionate about reading and learning of specific topics related to history, youth, and sports.  I checked out books like Frank Bonham's Durango Street, Walter Dean Myers Scorpions, and an unforgettable boxing story by Robert Lipsyte called The Contender. 

This month the world is reflecting on the passing of Muhammad Ali. Today I read a piece published in the June 20, 2016 Time Magazine by Robert Lipsyte titled 'ALI, Champion, Outcast, Hero, Legend'.  Before Ali passed I learned about the depth of Lipsyte's relationship to Ali's career listening to the Edge of Sports podcast with Dave Zirin.  Zirin has featured Lipsyte on his podcast a couple of times.  It took me back to when I first fell in love with the "boxing story" reading Lipsyte's The Contender.  While each Ali story I read or listen to today digs further and further into Ali's greatest battles in and outside of the ring, it leaves me wanting to know more about Ali's childhood and his Louisville upbringing.  I think about what Ilysah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, recently published with illustrator AG Ford of her father's upbringing.  Instead of presenting a larger than life figure as a larger than life figure, Shabazz and Ford introduce young readers to Malcolm as child; a story about children for children; an experience of family triumph and love and the traumatic struggle of loss, setbacks and tragedy.  

Even with as much as I've learned about Ali's life in the past 15 years, there is very little I know about Ali as child, Ali as young Cassius.  What I really liked about the  I Am Ali documentary is how Ali tape recorded his conversations with his children.  To me it reflected something special about Ali's youthful self and his hope to capture those simple moments talking to his children as he continued to age and suffer from a neurological disease.  Searching through the local library catalogue I think there are stories yet to be written and illustrated about Ali's childhood. I imagine these books to display images of Ali in his Louisville home.  Artwork that celebrate his family. Scenes that capture the joy, pain, and sounds of his early Louisville years.  Stories that will matter to a child's imagination and show them who Ali was when he was their age.  I can only imagine the kind of life authors and illustrators can paint in the imaginations of youth showing young Cassius dream and predict that he WILL become world champion.  Telling the story in a way that helps children imagine their own future and the feeling to declare your dreams as Ali did when he raised his clenched fists as a little boy.  To have the audacity to dream of something so great only for that dream to manifest itself into the reality of the entire world forever and ever.  

In remembering Ali, I dream of a more creative way to help the future remember him too.

#Lee aka #EPmijo