The sports feature

So my illustrious career as a sports writer (maybe) or writer in general is starting from humble beginnings. More accurately, started from humble beginnings from right here on this here blog. I'd like to think I have shown some development, especially since last fall in 2008 when my formal training began.

So the past few issues of Park University's newspaper, The Stylus, I've had the opportunity to write some pretty interesting pieces on some figures in our varoious athletic programs. I'm going to put both up on the blog here, but I'm posting my first one, well, first.

Hope you enjoy...

The cold damp atmosphere on a Friday afternoon on a mostly empty Park University campus is seeping it’s way into a mostly empty Breckon Sports Center. No games, no practice, just employees of the athletic department waiting out the rest of an anxious Friday afternoon.

Through the front doors of the arena strides Jon Meriwether with the cool confidence of a student athlete who has walked into the dual domed structure a thousand times. The last three years of Meriweather’s life have been spent playing, practicing, dazzling, working out and building a reputation as one of the best players to lace up and take the court on the Pirates men’s basketball squad.

Believing in your own press in this day in age of ESPN and total media saturation are easy trappings. Shining yourself on for cameras and scouts is as expected as calling for press conferences to announce your new hip-hop album or endorsing Chevy Trucks. The life of an amateur athlete, especially in the NAIA, allows for it’s players to be refreshingly down to Earth.

“To be honest the thought never crossed my mind,” Meriwether recalls. “It is sort of weird to me to think of myself as one of those guys. A top player. When I was told about being seen in that way, I was wondering if you had the right guy.”

For a player just named to the NAIA Division I All-American second team, you might think modesty would be as rare as a ray of sunshine breaking through the overcast sky outside. But the more you talk with and get to know Jon Meriwether the person, as opposed to Jon Meriweather’s stat sheet, you rapidly learn he would rather talk about his teammates, past and present, as opposed to himself.

“Being humble came straight from my Dad,” Meriwether said. “He was just that way when I was growing up.”

Let’s play a little bit of catch up here, Joe Meriwether was a 10 year veteran in the NBA and played from Madison Square Garden to The Summit in Houston, Texas and some points in between. Letting Jon in on what he accomplished during his prime wasn’t something that could be found without a little research.

“When I got a little older I was like, ‘why didn’t you tell me?’ He was a monster in his day and his stats were unbelievable,” Meriwether said. “I thought it was incredible but he would always tell me that he was just playing ball.”

Being a coach’s kid is never easy. At least not for a majority of kids that grow up in homes consumed by sports. That other one percent was the Meriweather home. Being the son of an NBA player and college coach would add even more pressure. But not in this case. To the contrary, pressure is the last word he would even think about coming of age at home.

“Even from early on, I wanted to do it,” Meriweather said. “I would be tired after games and would want to just go home, but I would go back into the gym to work on my shot. I never felt that pressure from my Dad. I just always liked basketball and wanted to be good. I was just playing.”

Even when leaving Division I Morgan State University, the senior Meriweather did not fret and did not dress his son down for leaving the game so unceremoniously.

“At that point it was all my choice,” Meriweather said. “When I was off for a year and a half, my Dad didn’t even suggest that I go back to playing. I missed it. It was my decision to come back.”

Sitting behind Coach Jason Kline’s desk he doesn’t seem uncomfortable in the least. A player just entering into a program might be a little apprehensive to be perched with ease at his coach’s desk, but not Meriwether. Being in a position of leadership is not foreign territory.

“We all seem to know our roles on this team,” Meriwether said. “Our jobs are defined. We help each other out and make up for what each of us might lack individually as a team and a family. That’s something that we have tried to instill in the younger players on this team.”

Meriwether points to a picture on the grey office wall to shift the focus away from himself and back to other players he sees as his mentors and an inspiration to his game.

“Brandon Voorhees was the man,” Meriwether said. Leaning back in his coach’s chair, a wry smile crosses his face as he recalls some of the NAIA All-American’s on court exploits. “We were on the road and we were down with only a few minutes to go in the game. We sort of just let B take over. He was white as a ghost and we knew he was tired, but he kept going and going. We won that game because of him, but after the game you wouldn’t have known. He didn’t say a word and just kept it to himself, rather than going on and on about it.”

Lessons in sports are a dime a dozen, but those are generic notions you read about on a daily basis. Stories and moments in sports are wrought and sometimes stretched to the point of being a tall tale, like Paul Bunyan or passing in the NBA. Most wouldn’t know it, but it’s the things we as spectators miss that actually make a difference to the young men and women taking the field or running on to the court.

“After seeing what Brandon went through that night,” Meriwether said as he pauses before revealing his thoughts. “It was truly amazing to watch. I learned then that is what it takes to be a good or even great player. You have to leave it all out there.”

Establishing yourself in one place is a goal most people strive to achieve. Having to pack up and do it every few years to sail away into unfamiliar territory is something that Meriweather is becoming accustomed to. He has his eye on the big picture, but he refuses to leave the dream behind.

“I’d like to follow Brandon over to Europe and try out over there and eventually play in the NBA like my Dad,” Meriweather said. “Right now it’s just hard thinking about leaving and not knowing exactly what the game has in store for me right now.
At the end of the day, this is something that every athlete faces.”

There is a plan B though, but it’s one of those ‘break in case of emergency’ type of things. Not to say what Meriweather has planned for the future would be any less rewarding, it’s just when boys draw up plays in the sand, or in the palm of their hands with the rest of their friends, you don’t see yourself behind a desk. It is not the dream. The dream is playing for the love of a game as long as possible, because deep down you know one day it will be gone.

“It is sad, don’t get me wrong,” Meriweather said. “You grow up living your life and centering it around basketball, knowing that it won’t be there in the same way I’ve known all my life will be a challenge. But that’s just life, you have to grow up and readjust. You just have to go out and attack it and not let it attack you.”

Finding a parallel between life and sports isn’t challenging. Applying it and weaving the two together is the accomplishment. Jon Meriweather will go down as one of the best players to grace the court at Park, this much is easy to see. But there has to be more out there than stats and awards and national recognition. Meriweather has recognized that. He knows he’s a great player, and so do most people, but he knows making everyone else around you better on and off the court is what excellence is all about, and the most important lesson learned.