By Kevin Miller
Grafton Timothy Reid sees basketball not just as a sport, but as a doorway to opportunities that would otherwise not be available to some of Centretown’s most talented players.
That’s why he’s taking such a major role in a new basketball program the Metro YMCA is offering this spring. Reid says the program will offer Centretown kids the chance not just to better their basketball skills, but to better their lives.
“There are too many kids that come here on the weekend that are playing against old guys like myself, when these kids could be going to other places, getting an education while doing something that they enjoy, and that’s my focus,” he said.
Both Reid and Dwayne Scullion, the programs co-coordinator hope basketball can give these kids more opportunities, by helping them get scholarships.
“We’ve always had some basic recreational programs, but nothing this structured that’ll give these kids the opportunity to build on their skills and maybe get scholarships,” Scullion says of the YMCA’s current program.
After playing for the University of Ottawa and Bishops University, Reid now wants to give back to the community by helping to give the kids he sees better direction, not just in basketball, but in life.
“I don’t want just basketball players, I don’t want just athletes, I want good citizens. I want strong people in strong communities,” he said.
“I want to develop that so that when these kids leave here, they go on to become productive people.”
Dwayne Scullion, the man behind this new organized basketball program says Reid is the inspirational force pushing it forward.
“He’s the one we’re all rallying around…he’s the one with the vision,” said Scullion.
And it’s that vision that Scullion and Reid hope will open doors for Centretown’s kids. Reid points out that a lot of inner-city kids don’t have the money to go to university, even if they do have the academic skills.
Reid wants the program to go even further.
During the recent March Break program, he invited his old coach Harley Lawrence, who in turn brought his coach, to talk to the kids about basketball and life in general.
Reid says despite the fact that they’re now “old guys,” the kids were captivated by what they heard.
Reid is also hoping to turn this new program into a more complete concept.
He’s inviting a nutritionist, a weight and strength training coach, and wants to add an academic portion once a week because he’s tired of seeing kids go through university without actually getting an education, just because they can play basketball.
“The honorarium program doesn’t really work unless you’re going to go to the pros,” he said.
“Most of these guys, that’s what they give them at the end of the year is an honorarium, because they never go to class, they never do anything and they get their degree. But can you read your degree? I want to try and change that.”
The program starts at the end of April, and Reid says the YMCA will take as many people as they can
He says with the people, the facilities and the drive of the group at the YMCA, his high expectations for the new basketball program can be recognized very soon.
“I am sure, (with) the people that we have at this program, and the type of kids that are coming out to our program right now, within a few years…a maximum of three years, we’ll be one of the best programs in this country,” said Reid.
And he says the kids this program produces will be in high demand, not just because of their skills on the court, but because of the attitude they will be taught to have off it.
“Coaches are going to come here looking for players,” he said, “because we’re going to have good kids with good manners who are not going to go places and do stupid things, who are going to be respectful of themselves, respectful of each other and respectful of their communities.”