Basketball Team’s Visit to Port Chester Home a Slam Dunk for Compassion

Margaret Mead, the noted cultural anthropologist, once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

The Mead quote is one that has stuck with John Aguilar – a Rye Middle School math teacher and head coach of the boys’ JV basketball team – since the days when he was on the receiving end of homework assignments and lay-up drills. It’s also the impetus for frequent trips the coach makes with his charges.

Prior to the beginning of the team’s winter season, Aguilar and the Garnets visited the Port Chester Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre to spend quality time with the infirmed at the High Street home. For a few hours the JV team interacted with the residents – sharing stories and shooting baskets on a miniature hoop. For Aguilar, who takes pride in being a teacher first and then a coach, it’s about paying it forward and having his student-athletes experience important life lessons.

“All kids need community service hours to graduate, but this doesn’t count towards that,” said Aguilar. “I want them to do it for the sake of doing it, because it’s a nice thing to do. I’m just the facilitator. I let them watch me once or twice interacting with the residents, and the students will mimic what I do at first, but then they do their own thing. The kids are unbelievably warm and kind.”

Aguilar says the students see each other in a different light after the visits. “Everyone wants to be cool in high school, but after the event their interaction with one another was only to talk about each of their experiences … it was wonderful.”

The trip to Port Chester was only the most recent of a series of events Aguilar has organized. Last year the team visited Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, and the students were incredibly moved by the experience. One sick child gave the Garnets a helmet as a gift. The team responded by bringing it to every game as a reminder of how fortunate they are. Aguilar plans on taking the current team to Blythedale later this year.

“I’ve been on the team for two years now and the experience of reaching out to the community at nursing homes and children's hospitals has been great,” said sophomore J. P. Barrett. “The residents and patients were so happy to have us there. There was more excitement than they normally have in a nursing home, with the balls bouncing around. I felt bad that the people were in wheelchairs, but it made me realize I should be thankful for my youth and my health.”

Aguilar’s yearly trips in his four years here have resonated within the community.
“We are very fortunate in Rye to have quality coaches who see the big picture,” said Athletic Director Rob Castagna. He knows from personal experience the difference these visits can make, as his own mother is in a nursing home. “Values are important — teaching life, not just the game. When student-athletes know that teachers and coaches care about others, they are motivated to be altruistic.”

The JV coach has long been a proponent of sharing his time with the less fortunate, even before he started working in Rye. In his formative years, he was involved in bringing Thanksgiving dinners to the needy. He says he would love to see this type of community service built up in Rye, because the positive impact is so great compared to the small amount of time put in.

“I called up the Port Chester Centre the day after our visit and they told me that next to Bingo, this is the thing the residents talk about the most,” said Aguilar. “It was great to hear that they were so excited and still buzzing about it. A few hours of our time lasted a month for them.”