LIGHT TRAFFIC

Dawson Community player Germaine @ Carolyne Weldon

(This is an article I wrote for Community Contact ‘s upcoming edition. Montreal represent!

B-Ball Coach Instills Confidence to Shoot for the Stars
by Carolyne Weldon

Though coach Shawn Alleyne happens to be really good at teaching boys how to play basketball, what drives him is the hope that the confidence and work ethic they gain on the court can serve them as they step into the world.

In his office next to the Annexe Gym where his team practices, Alleyne describes his coaching as an effort to build a brighter future for all. “With confidence, these kids will be better citizens, and ours will be a better world,” he says. “Let’s not forget these kids will be the ones running things and taking care of us when we grow older.”

Since 2006, when he became head coach of Dawson Community Bantam Triple A basketball, Alleyne has spent a lot of time with 12, 13 and 14 year-old boys. Together they have reached levels of play and notoriety no one thought kids so young could attain.

This year and last, Alleyne’s team achieved two “perfect seasons”, meaning it didn’t lose a single game to any other team in their league. They also won the provincial championships, finishing number one in Quebec two years in a row.

When he talks about the 15 kids that make up his team, Alleyne’s eye light up. “What is happening with this team is we are setting a standard,” he says. “When we won the [provincial] championship the first year, we proved that 12 to 14 year-olds could understand how to play ball on a higher level.”

Coach Alleyne says it wasn’t only the players’ parents, always loving no matter what, who started paying attention.

“Spectators, older kids and other coaches taking notice… people were like, ‘hey, these kids can dribble, these kids can pass’. They play like 16-17 year-olds.”

Though he humbly credits the players’ skills and determinations for the team’s successes, fellow coaches in the league know that Alleyne’s implication plays a foundational role. That’s why they voted him Coach of the Year for the second time this season, an award he was surprised to receive.

“I didn’t think it was possible to get it twice in a row,” he exclaims. “It’s pretty amazing.” This May, he was also awarded an Excellence in Coaching Award at Jeunesse Caraibe’s Annual Sports Gala.

So what’s the magic recipe? There’s obviously the technical side, which Alleyne takes very seriously. On top of the regular on-court training, he has his kids doing laps in the pool, for cardio, and occasional circuit training with weights. Another strategy is exposing kids to the fiercest competition they can take.

“What really helps is I make them play one level up, against 15-16 year-olds,” he explains. “It teaches them to take physical lessons – playing against bigger, stronger boys – while keeping their composure. When they come back to their own category, they’re tough.”

Shawn and some players at practice © Carolyne Weldon

But what makes Alleyne the outstanding coach he is goes beyond the transmission of on the court know-how, like shots and passes. The way he sees it, the game is about inspiring kids to become disciplined, hard-working and, most importantly, confident individuals. Alleyne believes that on the courts as in life, confidence will always trump ability. “Skills you can always acquire,” he notes, “confidence you have to build from inside.”

He admits a lot that goes into his coaching comes from his own experience as a young basketball player. (He made it to the Double A team in Vanier College.) “I won’t front: I wasn’t the most confident guy out there. I just don’t want them to feel like I felt. The way I see it, if they can get over this hump at an earlier age, they’ll be able to concentrate on their game and go far. You just can’t perform if you’re constantly doubting whether you’re good enough to take that shot.”

While coaching at that age group doesn’t always get the attention and buzz coaching older teams does, Alleyne believes these formative years are in fact the most important.

“I take this level seriously,” he says. “Basketball isn’t like school where if you under-perform you’re held back a year. Whatever happens, whether or not you break bad habits, you grow older and you go on. These kids are about to hit puberty. It’s right before they think they know it all; they’re still held back a bit. So you want to mold them if you can.”

Although his teenage years are long gone (the head coach turned 30 this year, and is now the proud father of a three and a half year-old son), Alleyne is pro at the extreme sport of communicating with teenagers. “That generation, they really don’t like being told. Whenever you come down hard on them, they just clam up.”

Realizing this, he’s developed roundabout ways of getting his message across.
“I like to use simple, real-life analogies. Instead of yelling at a kid to say ‘look before you pass!’ I’ll say, when you go to cross the street, do you cross right when you reach the curb or do you look first? Same thing for passing.’”

“Communication is big. Sometimes I’ll try something, see it’s not working and just change the wording. We’re here to figure it out together. I’m the coach, but this is family. I keep it open form.”

Though coaching is an important time-commitment – Alleyne meets with the team four times a week, usually for three two-hour practices and a game, on top of his full-time job at CAE, a Montreal-based flight simulator manufacturer – he says he does it for passion.

“You gotta give to get”, he says philosophically. He says hitting the big three-oh was like an epiphany: “I was very angry throughout my twenties, always hung up about stuff. Now I realize you only have one life to live and it’s now or never.”

“The bottom line is you have to trust yourself, and just do your best,” he adds. “I’d really like the team to be able to profit from my experience and not have to repeat the same mistakes. If someone comes to me, 10-15 years down the line, and tells me: ‘thank you, what you did for me really helped me’ … that’s more precious than anything.”

Coach Shawn Alleyne © Carolyne Weldon