By Mary Beth Almond BIRMINGHAM — At 6 feet 8 inches, NBA player Shane Battier is hard to miss — especially among a group of elementary school students. On Sept. 25, the 29-year-old Houston Rockets forward — who was born in Birmingham and went to elementary school at Harlan when he was younger — took a break from shooting baskets to visit his alma mater. Battier, who had signed one of the basketball backboards in the old Harlan building, returned to the school to sign one of the backboards in the new school’s gym and talk to students about character education and working toward their goals. To celebrate Battier’s visit, Harlan students were encouraged to wear athletic or sports jerseys and apparel that day. Holding up a tiny bobble head of the NBA player, 5-foot 4-inch Harlan physical education teacher Denise Parr provided the students with a brief introduction of Battier, joking that she would look like the tiny bobble head standing next to the giant player. She said Battier — who went to Detroit Country Day for high school and then on to Duke — was always a good student. She told the children he graduated high school with almost all A’s — and one B — and was such a great basketball player that DCD retired his basketball number. “The one thing that keeps coming up over and over and over again is Shane Battier has good character,” she said. “Having good character means that you always try your best and never give up. You follow directions and you’re a good citizen. These are qualities that we hope all Harlan students will have.” As soon as Battier walked into the gym, the children burst into applause, eager to hear the NBA player speak. “Believe it or not, I used to go to this school,” he told the children, adding that the new school is much nicer than the older one he attended. Battier said he remembers when the basketball hoops in the gym seemed really high to him, demonstrating to the wide-eyed children that now he can go up and touch the net without even jumping. He described his lifelong to dream to become an NBA player, which he said he finally fulfilled with lots of practice and hard work. “When I was your age, I dreamt every day that I was going to be in the NBA someday. I used to come in to the gym and go home after school and shoot baskets in my driveway,” he said. He said despite the lack of encouragement from his family and friends at times, he continued to work toward his goal — never losing hope. “If you want to have success, first of all you have to dream. You have to be able to see it in your mind. But that’s not enough. You have to work every single day. There are no days off,” he said. At one point during the assembly, Battier was reunited with his former second-grade teacher at Harlan, Cathy Osip, who still works at the school. “I remember when he was in second-grade. I never knew what to do because when I gave him work to do, he was one of the first ones done with it,” she said. At the end of the assembly, Parr urged the children to think about some of the things they heard that day about having dreams and fulfilling them with hard work. “Shane Battier is an American hero, so if you need to pick a hero, pick someone like this,” she said. “When you’re thinking about character, think about Shane Battier, because I know that each and every one of you can be just like him if you really want to.” You can reach Staff Writer Mary Beth Almond at malmond@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1060. |
