Cardinal O'Hara Reunion

By Adonal Foyle

When we traveled to Philadelphia to play the 76ers, I met with four guys who played a large role in how my life in America would start. They were my former teammates at Cardinal O'Hara High School in Philly and together, we were the starting five that season. Before I was an NBA player, before I became the NCAA's all-time leading shot block leader at Colgate, and before I helped Hamilton High School win a state championship, Cardinal O'Hara was where I got started.

It's been about 15 years since the last time I saw these guys all together. It was insane. They knew me when I had just come from the Caribbean. I still had my thick accent. It was great because that was the first team I was ever a part of. It was my first basketball family and these guys were the first group of guys I got to know. It was really exciting to see them again. To have the starting five reunited and to get a chance just to see how they're all doing - moving on with their lives - it felt like a foreshadowing of what the next phases of my life could be like. And I thought that was kind of nice.

It felt a little weird at first to get reacquainted with them because it had been some 15 years since the last time I saw them. So, my mindset was still on being a 16 year old high school student. And when you haven't seen someone in a very long time, but is very much a part of your life, as much of you've grown, once they see you again, you're reflected in their eyes in terms of how they see you and what you were back then. For me, it was very surreal seeing those guys again. Once I walked up the stairs and met them at their seats, I felt really comfortable again. Eventually, we got into some great conversations. We were all asking eachother 'My God. Do you remember when we did this? When we did that?' It was absolutely great. I loved every minute of it.

I couldn't help but think about my very first high school game in the United States. Nobody had any idea of who I was and what I could offer to the team. All they knew was I was from the Caribbean and that I was very tall. And when I think about being that young, from a basketball standpoint, I can't even remember what that first game was like. There were so many things that I had to get used to, just as a person trying to adapt to going to school in America, the game itself was just part of that list. But because I was comfortable as a basketball player, my first game was the least of my worries. All I remember was not having to practice as much as I did leading up to that game or playing as much basketball as I did coming to America. So everything was so new. Walking to class, seeing as many cars as there were, actually getting inside a car as opposed to riding on the back of a pickup truck, riding the escalator for the first time, eating the many different foods - having pizza for the first time - there were so many things to get used to, I didn't really have any time to get nervous leading up to that first game. Basketball was all I knew while growing up, so the game seemed to be the easiest thing for me to think of.

What I do remember is getting to know my Cardinal O'Hara teammates for the first time. It was like the Dating Game. We were getting to know each other, but reserved any thoughts and opinions of each other. We were hesitant to commit to each other as teammates. They wondered if I had an ego, I wondered if they were crazy, I didn't know them, they didn't know me. But we really learned to trust each other. And once we started doing suicides at practice, that will bring everyone together. Now, we were all on the same boat, experiencing the same pain. And it became a wonderful journey to be on.

Going back to the 'Starting Five', they will always have a special place in my heart, no matter what I do from here on. They are my beginning. They are they start of my journey. They are my entrŽe into this strange world. They were the ones who first saw my potential and my inadequacies. They know me better than anyone else who has gotten to know me. Because they saw me at my rawest - when they couldn't understand a word I said. Today, they still hear the accent. But they've also seen the trajectory of my journey from. I would definitely like to see them again and find more time to get to know them and really bond with them. I'm looking forward to staying in contact with them.

- Adonal