By Currents News
The St John’s University men’s basketball team has won more games this season than it has in some 25 seasons. Their Hall of Famer coach Rick Pitino has called the team’s hard work a blessing, one that’s possible thanks to their faith is moving them forward.
But even when the starting five of the St. John’s University men’s basketball team take the court, there’s still one key member of the Red Storm who ends up riding the bench.
At six-feet two inches tall, he is their rock – Father Richard Rock, that is. Players and students know him alike as the campus minister for athletics at the Queens Catholic university.
“He’s the joy of the team,” player Simeon Wilcher tells Currents News. “All the time he’s always the one to make sure that when you’re coming out of the game or even before a game that your spirits are up, that you’re happy and excited and just grateful that God is giving us another day to go out there and hoop.”
Before each basketball game at Carnesecca Arena on the SJU Queens campus he heads to the locker room, offering the players a moment of peace before the storm of competition.
“One of the things I always tell the athletes is that we are at our best when we’re thankful and you have to be thankful to God,” he tells Currents News. “Thankful for your team, thankful for your talents, and hopefully that’s going to help you do well.”
But Father Rock doesn’t just offer an assist before and during the game. On any given day the athletes can find him in his office, ready to lend an ear.
“We try to appreciate it. What do you need to grab on today? What happens if you get hurt? What are you looking forward to for the rest of your life? You need the values of the Catholic, the Vincentians community to try to help them to learn,” Father Rock explains. “They might not always get it now but the fact is, somewhere along the line, they do.”
He lets athletes know that with god as their center their faith can help them rise above the fear of failure and appreciate the satisfaction of success.
“They’re not looking for a whole lot of knowledge, they’re looking for people who really care about them,” Father Rock says of the students he engages with. “Because as I say, in their lives as athletes and students, there’s highlights and there’s lowlights, and there’s successes and failures, there’s good days and there are bad days.”
Even on those bad days, their rock is always on the bench.