Sacrifice
Photo by Peri McIntosh
Silence. Loneliness. Abandonment. Lee University shuts down due to winter break. Students, professors and administrators alike all go home.
While sitting on couches and watching TV sounds like a normal winter break to many college students, to basketball players, a month at home'a month off during winter break'is a foreign concept to them.
Throughout high school and college, basketball players have given up many free days'time to be with their families at home'all to play the sport they love.
'It's tough being here for these guys over Christmas break, I'm sure,' Head Men's Basketball Coach Tommy Brown said. 'There's nobody here, it's pretty lonely. It's quieter over Christmas than it is at any point during the year.'
Head Women's Basketball Coach Marty Rowe said that although playing basketball requires many sacrifices, it is a privilege that many students do not have.
'There are certain things that [basketball players] are asked to do,' Rowe said. 'But you have the privilege of playing basketball in college. And you're asked to do these things when a lot of people would love to be in that spot.'
Senior from Greensboro, North Carolina, Tyquan Roberts said that although Lee's campus over the break is boring at times, it helps with team bonding.
'Honestly, it sucks [being at Lee over break],' Roberts said. 'But you build team chemistry that way. It's just you and the team, no school, no other students and it builds team camaraderie.'
Senior from Englewood, Tennessee, Madison Lee said that staying over break helps the team grow and bond.
'It's good to have that time with your team where there isn't a lot of distractions so you can really grow and bond as a team,' Lee said.
Even for the players that are from Cleveland, Tennessee, it is tough that while other students have a month off, they have to put in hard work everyday for the sport they love.
'I still get to be with my family everyday during the holidays,' Junior from Cleveland, Tennessee, Kayla Beavers said. 'But even though I get to be with my family, it's still tough because it's supposed to be Christmas break and normal students get to go home for a month.'
The coaches feel that despite it being tough for the players, they can use it as a time for the players to get exceedingly better as individual players and as a team.
'The main thing for us [as coaches] is to keep them busy and not do too much,' Rowe said. 'And to take advantage of the opportunity to get better when they don't really have anything else on their minds.'
Brown said that although it's tough, it is nice for the players not to have any academics to worry about during that time.
'It's a grind, it's tough,' Brown said. 'We as coaches like it because we know there's no academic requirements so we have them for more time during the day.'
It's never easy being at school over break when friends and family are relaxing at home for a month. But coach Rowe feels that it's a sacrifice his players are willing to make.
'Everyone has a choice to make, and the choice is, do you want to be a college athlete or do you want to be a college student?' Rowe said. 'If you choose to be a college athlete, especially in basketball which is a two semester sport, there are sacrifices [no breaks] that you have to make in order to play.'
Despite the sacrifice these players have to make, they know it's what they signed up for and they treat it as a job. The players said it's definitely tough at times not having a break and being at Lee when nobody else is here, but they know it's for the sport they love.
'I kind of see it as something that we signed up for,' Roberts said. 'When you come to college to play ball, you take it as a job. And if that job requires you to give up your winter break then that's what you do because you signed up for it and you have a love for the game.'
