From the Sidelines

'Dropping in' to personal excellence

On Wed., Sept. 6, Onaje Woodbine, BK '02, spoke to the Herald about his reasons for leaving the basketball team. He still loves to play ball—he came to the interview straight from Payne Whitney Gym, where his team had won 15 straight pickup games, and he plans to play IM hoops for Berkeley. But his sense of religion (Woodbine has no one religion, but he describes himself as "spiritual") and his desire to serve the African-American community were, to him, a higher calling than putting the ball in the hoop. He first started to feel this way after Yale's season-ending 69-52 loss to Penn on Mar. 4, which is where the interview began.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Onaje Woodbine dribbles past a Brown defender during last year's season.

It was the most exciting game of the year for me, because it was at Penn, and if they won, they would go to the tournament. We lost, but the whole team played wonderfully. After the game, I realized that I was putting a whole lot of work into basketball and I was tired. And I felt like I was being called to do other things, and that I would ultimately help more people by studying the religion and philosophy.

I said, "Okay, maybe I'm just tired." But then, a couple of weeks after that, I started thinking more and more about it. It kept coming up—"Wow, what would it be like to be able to be disciplined in a different way?" When you play a sport and go to school, you have to be disciplined. But when you don't do [sports], you have time, and there's a different kind of discipline to still say, "I'm going to go to bed early, wake up early, and have more time to do other things." I was beginning to hunger to exercise that kind of discipline. I felt like I didn't so much want to drop out of sports, as drop in to a higher degree of personal and academic excellence.

It was never about basketball. It was always about excelling as a person, and using [basketball] to excel. So I want people to realize that [leaving Yale basketball] was an easy decision to make, in a lot of ways. I realized that I had used basketball to its capacity. Ultimately, it's about a higher purpose—it's about becoming the best person that you can become.

My goal in life is to make a living out of helping humanity. I didn't feel like I could do that by putting the ball in the hoop. I felt like God wanted me to do other things.

It became a stronger and stronger urge. I've never been able to not play basketball, and just be a student—just have free time to myself, to learn about who I am and what kind of person I can be.

I talked to my parents and I talked to a professor here who's been a great help. I also talked with Coach [James] Jones—he felt that playing basketball would be a great tool in doing the things that I want to do. But when I made my decision, he assured me that we're still family, no matter what. He's great.

I weighed the pros and cons of the decision. We played Colorado last year [Nov. 25], and they had a guy named Jaquay Walls on the team. He got drafted by the Indiana Pacers this year [ 56th pick]. Coach Jones and I talked about me playing in the NBA. When I played [Walls], he was a senior and I was a sophomore; the coaching staff felt like I had the potential to play, and I felt like I did, too. So that was a tough decision—playing professional basketball is a chance to take care of your family, if nothing else.

I also thought about my teammates. We had a chance to win the Ivy League, and I knew that it would be tough for them if I left. I wondered if I would regret it. But I thought, when I graduate, what do I want to say to myself? Do I want to say, I played basketball for four years. My grades were OK. But I didn't get to read all the books the teachers assigned. I didn't get to go to any Master's Teas. I didn't get to go home during Christmas." Or do I want to say "I played ball for two years, enjoyed it and accomplished a lot. Then, for two years, I excelled in all areas, and had the best of both worlds. And I can go to the top graduate school, the school that I want to go to?" I feel like my future is to excel emotionally, academically, and spiritually—and physically. The next two years will be the best time to do that. When I graduate, I envision going to graduate school and studying African religion and philosophy. I can go into the black community and develop workshops where people can learn about themselves and develop a sense of dignity and pride. People of African descent lost that in slavery. My reason for doing that is so that we can grow—in the United States, if black people aren't doing well, then the rest of the U.S. isn't going to do well, and vice versa. So my ultimate vision is that everybody be able to work together. And we need to have our dignity to do that.

I came from the inner city—I came from Roxbury, Mass. So I understand what it's like to be a young male in the inner city. There are so many things that beg for our failure in the inner city. I also know some of the ways to get out of it. And I know this world—I know Yale. So I know both worlds.

I haven't given it up; I haven't quit anything. The great thing is I can still play basketball when I want to. I'm just choosing to allocate more time to things that I think will best suit me.

Back to Sports...