Modified Boys Basketball Players Learn Life Lessons and More

Every two weeks, players on Sean Kelly’s modified boys basketball team have an important assignment — one that has no connection to dribbling drills or taking jump shots.

Members of the team are required to have their teachers and even their cafeteria lunch monitors evaluate their grades and behavior. The students then have to deliver those sheets to Kelly, but not before facing challenging conversations with Blue Mountain Middle School staff members about what they have and haven’t done well of late.

If they behave poorly or owe their teacher an assignment, Kelly will know.

“The thing about coach Kelly is he’s trying to help us grow and become a man,” said Lucas Goldman, an eighth-grader who has played more than one season for Kelly in various sports. “He wants to teach us about responsibility. If our grades aren’t good, for example, he will sit down with us and talk about what we can do to improve.”

Kelly has been a teacher and coach in Hendrick Hudson for 26 years. Outside the classroom, he has worked with students in football, basketball and lacrosse.

He currently also serves on the coaching staff for Army’s Sprint Football team, which is regular football played by regular rules except all players must weigh 178 pounds or fewer to play.

He believes the grade and behavior sheets help to instill some of the focus and discipline that he has been privy to coaching at West Point.

“I have done this since my first or second year at Hen Hud,” Kelly said. “I think it’s a good carrot for students. It also forces the kids to have good conversations with their teachers and find out how they are doing and what they are doing. If they are struggling, I ask them, ‘What is your plan to improve?’”

“Sometimes it can be scary,” said Christopher Barreiros, another eighth-grader who has played multiple seasons for Kelly. “But it definitely teaches you how to talk to your teachers and how to be responsible in school.”

Kelly believes the exercise forces students to develop maturity through their interactions with staff members. In his view, it also emphasizes what is required to participate in high school athletics.

The ability to balance sports with schoolwork and set a positive example form “the essence of what it means to be a student-athlete in high school,” Kelly said.

In addition to the progress reports, Kelly’s modified players are required to dress in a shirt and tie on game days. During a recent team meeting, a handful of players expressed disappointment they wouldn’t have to dress up for a game on what Kelly had deemed a casual Friday.

“When we have a game and we dress up, our teachers and friends tell us how nice we look,” eighth-grader Austin Rambin said. “It lets everybody at the school know you are on the team. And being on the team is an accomplishment.”