MSU athletes promote reading to Franklin students

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Members of the Montclair State University men’s and women’s basketball teams, and several assistant coaches, visited Franklin Elementary School on Thursday, Oct. 27. The point they wanted to make with their audience of fifth- and sixth-graders was the importance of reading.

The players met with each class in the school library and introduced themselves. They said what position they played, their college major, their year of study, and what they wanted to do after college.

The children were told what it takes to get accepted into college, the significance of reading, and, once accepted to college, what it takes to play competitive ball without sacrificing classroom grades. Time management, the Franklin students were told, plays an important part in being a successful college student and competitive athlete.

“You have to practice two to three hours a day and do your studies,” the kids heard. “What does time management mean? It means if you have a test on Friday, you start studying on Monday because you have to practice, too.”

Sports, the players said, is never an excuse for not excelling in academics. But sports also has its lessons to teach. Basketball will teach the importance of hard work and the need to work with others.

The players who came to Franklin have gone to numerous elementary schools to stress reading, according to the men’s assistant coach, Andrew Ling. Ling attributed the endeavor to the men’s head coach, Marlon Sears. The women’s head coach, Karin Harvey, and her players, he said, joined the effort. The MSU players had so far visited four schools in Belleville and two in East Orange. Ling also said that the MSU men’s team raised its overall GPA by one full letter grade last year, which was Sears’ first year of running the men’s basketball program.

But the players came to read and read they did, from “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” by Shel Silverstein. Each took a turn with Silverstein’s poetry and this may have provided the children with the best lesson they received that day: All the players read clearly and concisely.

And there was time for questions and answers.
“Can you dunk?” was one question.
“Did all you graduate high school in New Jersey?” was another, as was, “Is your heart only on basketball or other stuff?”

Several times the players were asked if they wanted to compete professionally in the National Basketball Association. One player said he would welcome the opportunity. But an assistant coach, standing on the sideline and no doubt wanting to keep the ball in play, asked the players if they realistically expected to play in the NBA. The players responded by reiterating the goals they had set for themselves, as college students, as being the stepping-stone to their future.