One of the finest institutions created in the United States is the pick-up basketball game. For one hundred and fifty years “pick-up ball” has offered men and women of all ages, races and religions a venue to lay their differences aside and enjoy a common game. Unfortunately, the opportunity to partake in this national, urban pastime has been denied to me and the thirty-some other regular players due to the start of the indoor javelin season.
This “team” which consists of no more than three athletes (1) occupies all four of the old Freeman basketball courts from Monday through Wednesday 4:00-7:00 p.m.— prime for pick-up basketball. Allowing the javelin “team” to monopolize the pick-up basketball courts is not only an act that promotes class and race discrimination (inadvertent though it may be) but also a University policy that closes off a space shared by students and the surrounding community. Let me explain.
Basketball is one of the few sports that does not require expensive equipment, large fields, and extensive organization. As such, it has become the sport often played in poor, urban neighborhoods. By giving a sport like javelin, usually played by middle and upper class kids, preferential treatment, the University sends a message about those students it thinks important and those it believes can be marginalized. Wesleyan can do all it wants in the admissions office to create a diverse campus but until it stops discriminating in the gymnasium, it can only do so much.
Second, pick-up basketball games offer a rare opportunity for Wesleyan students to interact with Middletown residents. About half of the participants in Freeman “pick-up” games are students from Middletown high schools. I could talk about how valuable intercommunity relationships are and how much we can learn from each other, but what it really comes down to is…I like their company. Most of these guys (and the occasional girl) are fun to play with and fun to talk with and when Wesleyan shuts down pick-up basketball games, it perpetuates its fortress-like image in the community and keeps me from seeing my pals.
Third, the javelin “team” uses up far too many resources considering the size of the team. Most varsity sports at this school have distinct “seasons” during which they play. Seasonal play allows for the equal sharing of school resources and enables those sports that are suited for an indoor arena to be played in the winter while allowing other sports that, say, involve throwing large pieces of metal over long distances, to be played during the fall or spring. Year-round varsity sports can be permitted if they do not drastically impede other indoor activities, for example, the indoor track does not take away large amounts of usable, indoor space. The javelin “team” does, however, and it needs to either restrict its play to the fall and spring or find a different time of the day to practice. The future of our University depends on it.
On a brief note, I urge WSA and the Administration to purchase more ping-pong tables or to re-locate existing tables somewhere near to the Bayit, preferably within the Bayit itself. (2)
(1) According to the track and field website the entire field team consists of six students, but I believe three of them are shot-putters—whom I have no problem with since they only use a fraction of the basketball courts.
(2) The Bayit is the Jewish program house on campus.
Leave a Reply