Sports

Playing Balling, Building Life Skills at West 4th Street Court

By Amoz Lewi
Spectrum Staff

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2me5MtW9a8[/youtube]

By Amoz Lewi
Spectrum staff

For B-ballers like Jayquan Booker and Angelo LaRoche—regulars on the fenced-in basketball court at the corner of West 4th Street and 6th Avenue, a spot famous to many New Yorkers who love community basketball—their sport isn’t just about scoring points.

Basketball “is one of those things that got me out of the ‘hood,” LaRoche, 29, said.

He credits basketball for getting him through high school, through Manhattanville College on an academic scholarship and with getting a good job—and, figuratively speaking, making him want to stay alive as he struggled through the first years of life without his parents. They died when he was a little boy.

LaRoche has been playing at The Cage, as that West 4th Street court is commonly known, for eight years.

Just as LaRoche started playing basketball when he was a kid, 24-year-old Jayquan Booker starting playing when he was around six years old.

Unlike LaRoche, Booker chose not to accept a college scholarship—in his case, one to St. Johns University—because, he said, “it was too close to home and I didn’t have the patience for school.” Booker said he also turned down two offers to play professionally on teams in China.

At The Cage, the other players call him “Superman.” And that says something about the way he plays and the life he leads, Booker said. In addition to playing basketball in his leisure time, he models and acts.

“I don’t want to live average. I feel like I deserve better; that is my motivation,” said Booker, adding that he likes having an audience, whether while on the court, the runway or stage.

“I like to put on a show for everybody,” he said.

The Cage’s history and its symbolism—greats of community and professional basketball have played there—are what keep Booker playing there, he said.

LaRoche, who has a basketball tattoo on his chest, said he is more interested in how he is making history and memories and maintaining friendships, right now, on that court. “It is more than just a game,” he said.

This is the first year that his team, which had won all five of its games by late summer 2016, has been undefeated.

“The key to winning is the maintenance of camaraderie and the addition of new players,” said LaRoche, who attended college with several of his basketball teammates.

When he and Booker look back on the role basketball has played in their lives, both men said, they do not regret having spent so much time on the court.

“Every decision that I’ve made [while playing] this sport has been a logical one—from choosing a college [where I could] play basketball to not going overseas and really focusing on starting my corporate career,” LaRoche said.

Regarding basketball, LaRoche continued: “Starting at that young age you don’t really know where it is going to take you and how it will change your life. I guess that is up to you to determine that.”