Contra Costa Times

December 20, 2003
by Marcus Thompson III

Taking Basketball to a Higher Level

OAKLAND - Knowing that a current NBA player doubles as a graduate student may be surprising. Knowing that NBA player is Warriors big man Adonal Foyle may extinguish the surprise.

Foyle, currently working on a master's degree in sports psychology at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, is unique far beyond his Canouan, Grenadines, accent. A look at the personal section of his bio in the team media guide reveals he is much more than a basketball player.

He founded the non-profit political organization "Democracy Matters." The Adonal Foyle Reading and Learning Center in Canouan was the first international center opened under the NBA's "Read to Achieve" program. The Adonal Foyle Investment Challenge, which pits students from two San Francisco high schools in a stock market game, leads to internships for students at sponsor Merrill Lynch.

Foyle also holds dinners at his home in Oakland to benefit AIDS research, commissions the After School Drug Free Basketball League and reads to Bay Area kids through the Warriors' Tall Tales program. While many athletes consider the professional ranks -- and its spoils -- the goal, he considers it the beginning.

"A good life to me is to be educated and to be able to understand what's going on around you and to be able to decipher those things," Foyle, 28, said. "To me happiness is to be fully aware of my environment and to understand it in every way, and in so doing to truly understand myself and appreciate the world. Because it could be a shame if you exit this world and not really know what makes it tick."

Sports psychology replaces the ideals of luck and charm with logic and principle; it replaces anxiety with technique.

Foyle said he's always had an interest in conquering the mental aspects of basketball and life. What he's learning at JFK University not only gives him the skills to do such but teaches him to share those skills with others.

"Imagery helps a lot," Foyle said. "Visualization, repetition, goal-setting, all these things are kind of the framework of sports psychology, which (embodies) knowing the different anxieties that are going to arise in different situations and learning how to control them."

The workload is tremendous, especially for one with an NBA regimen. So even though Foyle has been recovering from arthroscopic surgery in his left knee and has yet to play this season, he said he will wait for the summer to take more classes. He has taken classes during the season, either a weekend class or an independent session based on his availability.

"It takes a lot of commitment to see it through," said Tonya Johnston, one of his professors. "It's taken extra effort and a lot of creative scheduling. He really cares about the things he's involved in."

Johnston said there is extensive reading and writing involved. She said he checked out 10 texts during the summer quarter, two of which were required. She said there were weekly assignments, like responses to case studies. She also said Foyle developed a resource book for working with athletes, full of worksheets he created.

Said Gail Solt, head of the sports psychology program at JFK: "When you talk to Adonal, you get the feeling there is nothing he can't do."

His field goal percentage jumped nearly 10 percent from 2001-02 to 2002-03. His free throw percentage has jumped nearly 30 percent, and he blocked 37 more shots.

"More than anything else, when you really come down to it, the things that you're afraid of are just things, things that once you put to the light to it are not scary anymore," Foyle said. "A lot of that has to do with being aware of yourself and being aware of your demons. To me, to harness your demons and cage them is the greatest freedom one could ever have?"

Demons like Shaquille O'Neal?

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