April 2006
WPI Basketball Team Honored as Mentors
(WORCESTER)-Three years ago, Bobbie Cook, now a seventh grader at Forest Grove School in Worcester, was matched with Brian Steele, who volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass/Metrowest as a school based mentor along with the other members of the WPI men's basketball team.
The shy fourth grader didn't talk very much when Brian visited him at his elementary school. Bobbie is the only boy in a family with three girls, and his father has been seriously ill. Bobbie's Mom Joanne felt that the illness was particularly hard on her son. She was seeking a positive male role model for him and in Brian, she says, Bobbie found the perfect match.
"Brian has been so faithful," she said. "Now he and Bobbie talk online all the time."
Bobbie regularly attended Brian's basketball games. "Brian has been a huge influence on him," Joanne adds.
Brian and teammate Ryan Cain, who has been matched with his Little Brother Kevin for four years, was one of 50 volunteers recently honored for their mentoring efforts at a ceremony at the Statehouse in Boston.
"It's important to recognize the impact one person can make on the life of a child," said Ben Ticho, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass/Metrowest.
Volunteering as Big Brothers in the School Based Mentor program helped WPI basketball players gain maturity and boosted the team's morale, according to coach Chris Bartley.
When Coach Bartley proposed that the basketball team become Big Brothers four years ago, his goal was for them was community service. He asked team members to commit to being matched with youngsters at Worcester's Elm Park Community School and meet with their Little Brothers once a week.
"Every member of the team responded," Bartley said, "and while my goal was for the team to give back to the community, they all have gotten a lot from being Big Brothers."
"I see a different side of the guys with their Little Brothers," he continued. "Guys who seem really tough show a sensitive side when they're with the kids. I've seen a lot of maturity develop in team members since they've been Big Brothers. They understand how they're role models for the younger boys."
Ryan Cain, a guard on the WPI basketball team developed such a rapport with his Little Brother Kevin that his teammates refer to the younger boy as "Ryan's mini-me"
With his shock of red hair, Kevin is easy to spot as he races around the elementary school gym dribbling a basketball like Ryan taught him. He even resembles his Big Brother, who has similar coloring.
Kevin says what he likes about his big brother is that "if anything bothers me, or if I feel bad or sad, I can talk to him about it and he'll help me solve the problem."
"I wish more people would realize how doable this is," said Coach Bartley. "One hour a week isn't much to ask. And it really does make a difference for the kids."