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“Don’t be afraid to be different”
“We all fail, learn from those mistakes and help yourself.”
Simple sentences heard frequently by teenagers, but this crowd of about 40 teenagers listened intently because the statements were coming from four basketball stars. They are playing together as Boeheim’s Army in The Basketball Tournament, where the winning team will walk away with a million dollars. They also know the streets these kids walk and the troubles they face.
Former SU basketball standout, Eric Devendorf, pulled together the other players and visited members of The Salvation
Army Syracuse’s Partnership for Youth and Family Intervention.
Devendorf, fellow SU basketball star Terrence Roberts, Purdue standout and Schenectady native Willie Dean and Arkansas’ Olu Famutimi, who played basketball with Devendorf in Michigan spent some time shooting hoops with the teens and then pulled four chairs up and sat down to a talk to them. All have played basketball professionally.
Eric introduced the other players and said how he could “feel the positive energy in this gym and you need to keep this positive energy not just on the court but when you leave the gym. I know your struggles, friends who have died and the negativity in the community with drugs and killings. Positivity is the key to happiness.”
Terrence Roberts encouraged the teens had to “find a path, find a way out of the neighborhood. Nothing is easy and you can’t be afraid to fail.”
Willie Dean pointed out the need to have a “plan B and a plan C” and that “books and basketball should go hand in hand. You have to be as dedicated to the books as you are to the court.”
All the players said that basketball shouldn’t be their only career path, that many players get injured and unable to play again. The average time playing professional basketball in the NBA is six years.
Eric recently returned to Syracuse University to complete his degree after six years and now is part of the community and “passionate to be able to help you kids.” He noted that everyone makes mistakes in their lives, but “when you learn from your mistakes, you help yourself and others. You will fail, but you need to get up. Take care of care of business, family and yourself.”
Terrence added, ‘you can’t have successes without failures, and your success is what you bring to the next generation.”
The players ended their comments with a sentence very familiar to The Salvation Army, “treat others as you want to be treated…”
The Salvation Army’s Partnership for Youth and Family Intervention provides an integrated network of youth development programming and family strengthening services for the youth served by Syracuse Boys and Girls Clubs, and Catholic Charities’ Vincent House.
The partnership offers after school programs and services designed to help youth succeed in school, graduate, pursue higher education or receive training to enter the 21st century workforce. The programs provide supplementary academic support and a safe, positive and engaging learning environment, bolstering social and emotional development that are critical to academic success.