The Real Winners

The Real Winners

By Matt Wolfe

If you are looking for an article that chronicles the next up and coming high school football star or the team to beat in high school baseball, that every parent in town knows their name and tail gates every game as in Varsity Blues, feel free to stop reading now.

This article outlines the legend of a no-name middle school recreational basketball team in Haddon Township. Their name, The Raptors (named for the NBA team). Their jerseys were screen printed t-shirts, purple in homage to the professional team they hoped to emulate.

There were no up and coming stars on this team. No child prodigies who dribbled and shot circles around all of the other kids. This story is not even about a team that finished the season above .500.

Their venue was the Haddon Township High School gymnasium. The hazy atmosphere that seems to accompany every gym hung in the air with various banners showing off the schools illustrious sports history.

With their head coach, at the time 17 year-old high school Senior Mike Parzanese at the helm and assistant head coach Travis Greene, they instilled the most important quality in all of sports.

At this point, you may wonder what could possibly warrant a story about a team such as this that pulls the community together. This team did not bring the town any accolades but it did foster good habits for the kids that played for this team. And their parents loved to watch it (for the most part, I’ll get to that).

It was not in having fancy jersey’s, or having notable players or amazing statistics or even wins. The most important thing for Mike and his team was fun. As previously mentioned, they finished well below .500, a dismal 2-10. To have talked to one of his kids, you would never have guessed it.

Mike said that, “as a kid, I had coaches that yelled at us during practices and games and took the game way too seriously. If I hadn’t loved basketball, I would have quit”.

And that is an all too common theme in sports today. There is a lot of emphasis on winning even at a young age. Take for instance the Little League World Series. These twelve year-olds lay their hearts on the line for the love of the game. Did I mention they are 12?

I am not taking away from their passion for the game but all too often there is too much pressure put on them by parents and coaches.

Mike brought this community a sports team that cared about fun, not winning. Through his efforts, these kids enjoyed their time playing recreational basketball even if by all accounts, the lack stats, records, prestige and a championship trophy would have left other teams down in the dumps.

“For me, it’s about fun, and learning. Yeah, you aren’t always going to be the on the best team or be the best player on the team” says Mike. “All you have to do is be willing to learn, try your best and most importantly have fun. These kids are not at the level where they need to worry about winning, it’s a shame that a lot of these kids grow up too fast because of their parents pressuring them”

The legacy of Mike’s story begins with his first coaches meeting. All of the coaches were asked to take a look at the roster of kids interested in playing and choose the kids they wanted to form their squad. Mike didn’t know any of the kids on the list and just took a blind leap of faith.

Just like that, he had himself a team. Keeping with his fun loving, educational approach, Mike taught his players fundamentals. “I never got mad at the kids or raised my voice. I just told them to try their best and listen to what I was trying to teach them.”

So as the season started, Mike’s group of players, who looked to be inspired by the motion picture Major League, took to the court and got their middle school butts handed to them. The miraculous thing though, “not one kid complained. They all wanted to play even though they were losing, horribly too I might add” he quipped.

Mike’s biggest coaching hurdle wasn’t the kids and their abilities. It came from the parents. One player in particular never came to practice, and in fitting with his team concept, Mike did not play him nearly as much as those kids who attended practice and tried to learn and be part of the team.

As a typical parental response, the parent asked ‘Why isn’t my kid playing?’ “I answered with a question, why doesn’t your kid come to practice?” he said. After a futile attempt to defend their child’s actions, the parent quickly returned to his seat. The player in question made every practice from there on out.

The concept here is simple. The team was about having fun and learning the fundamentals. Mike and Travis were passing on to a new generation the things that they found important in sports. They knew that even if they had drilled these kids and made them work hard, chances were that none of them would have excelled at that age.

“The point of this team was to get the kids out and interacting. If they weren’t here, they would probably be playing X-Box or watching tv.” Mike’s contribution was to help these kids get out and be active, and maybe learn a little bit of basketball on the side.

He and Travis brought the community a team that wasn’t setting records and making headlines but one that gave kids a lesson on the important factors of any sporting team. It’s not worth doing if it isn’t any fun.

There is no better way to wrap up an article, in this engineers opinion than to give an, ‘in conclusion’ statement. Too many coaches make their sons pitch in baseball or be the starting quarterback in football. Mike and Travis brought the concept of team spirit and sportsmanship. This assignment was to focus on a team that brought the community together. I could have written about the Moorestown Girls LAX team that was ranked no. 1 in the nation for years at a time with no losses or the Washington Township Ice Hockey team that, in my high school days were the Russians of our league. Instead, I wrote about a team that no one, even those on it probably remember.

Mike and Travis contributed more to these kids lives and to the community by fostering noble sportsman ideals and team spirit in their players. Through their fun loving and laid back approach, the team, “had fun. They told me and Travis that we were the best coaches they had ever had. It makes me feel good to hear that despite my horrible managerial skills.”