Basketball: School is not out for Summer

We want our players reacting AND thinking. Education transcends basketball, although smart floor players usually fare well in the classroom. We're in the middle of summer basketball, and our team (future frosh and one sophomore) competes in the Eastern Basketball League against varsity teams.

In a meeting before the game, I asked players whether they had heard of 'critical thinking'. I asked them the final words of the Pledge of Allegiance, which of course they knew...and whether they knew of times where citizens had neither. The general discussion format is "subject", "tell me more", "give examples", and so forth...asking them to elaborate on a subject, with respect to logic, accuracy, precision, perspective (point of view) fairness, and more.

For example, they quickly identified slavery as a breach of liberty, but none were familiar at this point with Japanese American internment during World War II.

With respect to justice, with a little prompting they recognized women's suffrage as a justice issue, although none were or could be expected to know Loving versus Virginia (1967) which overturned a ban on interracial marriage. And we didn't discuss the sorry tales of Vincent Chin or Matthew Shepard. But now they know.

School may be out for summer, but learning goes on. Smarter players excel in the classroom; thinkers play better. We didn't win the battle last night; but we learned both on and off the court.