At the beginning of the school year, our Florida State College at Jacksonville men's basketball players left workouts early and headed to the classroom, the daycare classroom at Chappell Schools that is, located here on FSCJ's South Campus.
In the classroom, the team usually reads to the children, complete puzzles, builds with Legos and explains what it's like to be "so tall" and a college basketball player. The team even spends time outside with the kids to play catch, soccer, tag and numerous other games. But today was not one of those days.
The children of Chappell Schools invited our men's basketball team back to spend Halloween with them. The players joined in on the tricks and treats at the annual Halloween party for the children and their families. Some of the men's basketball team even dressed up for the festivities and supervised contests, games and "trick-or-treating" at the party. Members of the FSCJ men's team even received an opportunity to collect some candy for themselves.
"It's been a while since I dressed up for Halloween and even longer since I did any 'trick-or-treating'," said freshman forward Kuol Reech "but it was fun to get to relive it a bit. One of the kids and his family are close to where I'm from in Australia, so that was alright and great to meet and talk with them."
Daily greetings now come from the children to our athletes as they pass by to and from classes and practice. FSCJ athletics is proud of the bonds and friendships our men's basketball team has built with Chappell Schools here on South Campus. We look forward to continuing to foster our relationship and mentorship with the littles ones and to become role models in the community.
"As a student-athlete, we're all pretty busy with class, practice and doing what it takes to excel at both. There's really nothing better though than seeing how excited these kids get when we come visit or they shout at us from the playground when we walk by," sophomore guard Tarence Guinyard says. "We're still relatively young but realize we're role models to them, and it helps us to carry ourselves that way."
Men's basketball is planning to host a "Chappell School's Night" at one of the regular season games this upcoming season, which tips off Friday November 3rd at Eastern Florida's Jim Grimes Classic. For more updates and information on your FSCJ men's basketball team, follow us on Instagram and X @FSCJMBB.