Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
October 27th, 2005
DURHAM — On Saturday, November 5th, you’re invited to come out and support the Hillside High School men’s varsity and junior varsity basketball teams.
Basketball? Wait, this is the cycling column.
Well, the basketball teams are going for a bike ride. The second annual Ride with the Hornets, which begins at 8:30AM in the rear parking lot at Hillside High School, is a fund raiser for the varsity and JV mens teams.
It’s not unusual for organizations to use cycling events as fund raisers. This Saturday, Durham’s Habitat for Humanity is hosting the “Halloween Hundred” — a fully supported metric century (100km ride) where proceeds will sponsor construction of a homein Habitats East Ellerbee St. neighborhood.
The Triangle Cyclopaths are donating a portion of the proceeds from their November 5 “Dance with the Devil,” an endurance mountain bike race, to the Caring Community Foundation.
And every year, regional chapters of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society host an “MS150″ ride. All over the country, cyclists raise entry fees and additional funds to search for the cure for multiple sclerosis by riding in these 150km events.
This year, Coach Wayne Howell is doing something similar for his basketball teams at Hillside. He hopes that by inviting the community to sponsor members of the basketball teams, the Hornets can raise at least $1,300 for a “shoot-away” — a device that sets up under a basketball goal, rebounds shots, throws the ball out to the next person, and keeps statistics on players’ shooting percentage.
Howell, who played basketball professionally for more than nine years in Australia and Singapore, says that a device like the shoot-away would make a big difference to his teams. “It can take a team from making 300 or 400 jumpshots per hour to 2,000 or 3,000,” he says.
The Ride with the Hornets will be one of the first experiences the students will have together as a team. Tryouts for the basketball teams will be completed in the week leading up to that Saturday, and Howell wants to do something to help the team bond in their first few days.
“I found last year, we did a lot of team-building things, and that really helped us,” Howell says. “It always helped me, too, when I played overseas.”
Remembering the joy of cycling as a kid is what led Howell to start the Ride with the Hornets. “Growing up, we used to ride bikes a lot. I don’t think kids now ride bikes like we did,” he said, and he thinks a combination of video games and parents not pushing kidsout of the house are to blame.
“And with the [American Tobacco] Trail, you don’t have to worry about riding on the street,” he added.
In a school that already boasts increasing enrollment in academically rigorous programs like International Baccalaureate and AVID, four-time state champions in women’s track, and a world-traveled theatre department, Coach Howell sometimes feels the pressure to offer Hillside students something unique.
Bob Hill, the athletic director at Hillside, says “Howell is one of those people who likes to bring young people together and show them a lot of different life skills. The bike ride is a tool to be able to communicate with the students, have them share their thoughts and feelings about anything. I think it’s an excellent way to teach young kids outside the classroom.”
Howell has reason to think he’s offering something the students like. “All this year, I’ve had students ask, ‘Coach, are we gonna do the bike ride again?’,” he says.
Howell says donations can be made in two ways either directly to the team as a whole or by sponsoring an individual player. Sponsorship simply involves pledging to donate a certain amount of money per mile that the student rides.
This year, the community is also invited to join in the fun and ride with the Hornets. If you’d like to ride, be ready to roll by 8:30AM. Their route will follow the American Tobacco Trail, first north to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, then south to Highway 54, and then finishing back at the Hillside parking lot.
