ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC, Sep 10 – Two years after Hurricane Ivan swept away lives and livelihoods, an NBA star player with Grenadian roots has returned to watch his own contribution to rebuilding the island nation play itself out, literally.
Etan Thomas, the 6-foot 10-inch centre with the Washington Wizards, was back in the Spice Isle just ahead of the two-year anniversary of Hurricane to watch a local basketball tournament held in his honour.
It was an opportunity for young people in communities across the island to forget, at least for a few days, the toll of two billion dollars worth of damage, more than 12 per cent of the population unemployed and several social ills including increased drug use and drugs trafficking, domestic abuse and higher levels of poverty.
“There was definitely a lot of infrastructural damage,” Thomas says reminiscing about what he saw on his last visit. “I remember a lot of the hotels I would come to before…they were destroyed by Ivan. But the people still had so much hope, they weren’t down and everybody knew things were going to be okay.”
Young men, in particular, have emerged as one of the most vulnerable groups in post-Ivan Grenada, and last year Thomas donated US$40,000 to funding youth programmes and repairing basketball courts across the country. And he got the NBA and other players to donate US$100,000 dollars as well.
During his stay in Grenada, Thomas spoke with many young people encouraging them to stay away from drugs, practice safe sex and make the right choices.
“Back in the States, they’re cats who should be playing basketball,” he tells an audience of close to 300 young people assembled at Macdonald’s College in St Patrick’s, assembled to hear him speak.
“We played on the same courts and some of them are better than me, but you know what, it was the choices they made that kept them from their dreams. I made different choices and I followed my dreams and you can do the same.”
Many of his friends are now dead or in prison. “A lot of the guys I played with talked about the positives of being in a gang, the camaraderie; you could make some quick money and have protection. I looked at it and said, ‘well you know you’re killing your own brothers and you’re doing the work the enemy wants you to do.’ That’s why it was never appealing to me.”
At the Sauteurs tournament in the parish of St Patrick’s where his grandmother was born, Thomas scored the first goal on the still-unfinished court, which has to be resurfaced.
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In his opening remarks minutes before, Thomas was peeved about wrangling between the St Patrick’s Basketball Association, which manages the court, and the parish’s Catholic Church that owns the land.
“I didn’t make the contribution … for the Catholic church,” the outspoken basketballer told dignitaries which included representative for the area Anthony Boatswain, who is also the Minister of Finance.
In a country feverishly preparing for Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007, basketball seems the sport of choice among young men, who are emerging as one of the most vulnerable groups in post-Ivan Grenada.
In Sauteurs, alone 14 percent of the area’s 11,000 population is jobless. “My reason for making a contribution was for the people of Sauteurs,” says Thomas, who was born in Harlem, New York, and grew up in the midwestern American state of Oklahoma before attending Syracuse University in upstate New York.
“I’m concerned that the court gets utilised in the way that it is supposed to be, for young people to have a place where they can play and take them off the streets, a place where they can learn organisational skills, learning together and working together, that should be the only thing that matters.”
Basketball has provided scholarships for several Grenadian players helping them further their education. Just recently, East Central University in Oklahoma recruited Grenadians Ian Adams, Orson Thomas, Lyndon Daniels and Gary James; all athletes with potential and expected to make to the NBA.
As for Etan, he is back in Washington DC and will be in a training camp within the month, preparing for the play-offs.
Drafted by the Dallas Mavericks, he was later traded to the Washington Wizards. As centre he is the longest tenured Wizard player, averaging 6.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in 211 career games with 25 starts.
Last year, he appeared with the Wizards in eight NBA play-offs but sustained an abdominal injury and did not play in two post-season games against Miami.
He averaged 6.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game.
As for his work in Grenada, this published poet, orator, activist – and basketball star – will be back next year with partner organisation, UNICEF, to carry out more programmes to help Grenada – and its young people – move forward in recovery.