In a come-from-behind victory, the Charles W. Henry basketball team took home the Philadelphia Youth Basketball (PYB) program’s Middle School Gold Division championship on March 22. 

It is the first basketball championship for the 117-year-old Mt. Airy public school in, well, nobody really knows. 

“The basketball team may have won a championship sometime in the past,” said Principal Kristy Len. “It would have been many years ago. But nothing in recent history.”

That didn’t matter to students at the K-8th grade school, who celebrated the championship during a monthly town hall. The victory was a “super surreal moment” for first year Assistant Coach Faihym Felder. Even more rewarding, said Head Coach Malcolm Taylor, was seeing the players grow and mature. 

“After two seasons, I can see that the boys have grown skill-wise and maturity-wise,” said Taylor, who led the team to a 20-4 regular season record. “The main thing that comes from that is that they hold themselves accountable and each other accountable.”

Developing accountability started last fall when Taylor and Felder put the team together. The coaches didn’t want for students eager to try out. But when the coaches announced the rules for playing, the throng thinned out - significantly.

“It’s funny because they kind of weeded themselves out,” Felder said. “We hold [ourselves] to a standard. We connect with Principal Len. We connect with the teachers. So, you had to carry a certain grade.”

To play on game day, Hawk players had to meet grade expectations in all subjects and have no behavioral issues. A player who dropped the academic ball or committed a personal foul in class not only was benched, but at practice had to publicly apologize to their teammates and family. And that included star players.

“When you sit somebody like the best player down, it wakes up the team,” Taylor said. “Coach is not playing. He’ll sit anybody down. That makes the best player a better leader.”

Three of the team’s four regular season losses came when key players were benched for either academic or behavioral issues. But, Taylor said, he also remembered that he was dealing with middle school boys.

“I think it is really important to give the students grace because they are still in the development stage,” he said. “We try to restore their energy rather than discipline, discipline, discipline. Now that this has happened, let’s create a plan to get you back on the right track so you can do the things you like. First you have to be a student. [Basketball] is a privilege.” 

As for that fourth loss? That was on the coaches. They didn’t prepare the team to break a full-court press.

“We told them that, as coaches, we are holding ourselves accountable for not having them prepared for that moment,” Taylor said.

The students who agreed to adhere, as best they could, to the rules last fall were rewarded with a championship. But there wouldn’t have been a regular season, let alone a championship game, if not for PYB. 

Money limits the number of middle school sports the school district can support, Len said. Basketball didn’t make the cut. So, she turned to the PYB to fill the void. 

Started in 2015, PYB is a non-profit organization that uses basketball to help students “build the skill sets and mindsets they need to succeed on the court and in their education, careers, and lives,” according to its website. Taylor and Felder work for PYB.

“We are really thankful for our partnership with PYB because it allows us to provide basketball for our students who have an interest in it,” Len said. “Even though it is an outside organization, we are on the same page.”  

PYB isn’t just focused on what happens on the court. It also has a program called Off Court. Before every practice, coaches and players are expected to spend 30 to 45 minutes in a classroom discussing real-world topics.     

“They actually give us a curriculum to present to students about different things to expand their minds outside of school,” Felder said. One session covered financial literacy.

“We posed the question: Does anybody know what an asset is?” Taylor said. “Does anybody know what a liability is? Would you rather take $10,000 or would you take a mansion? You would have loved their responses.”

On the court, things were a little rough skill-wise when the season started. The coaches worked with players to improve their dribbling, shooting, rebounding and team play. Even when they were winning, Taylor kept pushing them to get better. 

“By me not being easy on them, it pushed them to a limit that they never thought they would get to,” he said. “They are excited when they are in a game and they actually made a shot, made a layup, made the right play, or even simple things like just catching the basketball. We have to play the game the right way.”

It also prepared them to become champions. The Hawks breezed into the playoffs and through the early rounds to reach the finals where they faced the 24-0 Kipp West, a team they had lost to in the regular season. One of Henry’s best players was benched for that game. But now, going into the championship, the Hawks had a full squad. It was the middle school showdown to see. 

“It was so much the game to see that high school scouts were there,” Taylor said.

Except, Taylor wouldn’t actually see the game. He was committed to coaching another game at Penn State in Centre County. During the last practice before the big game, Taylor told his team to “play with purpose as a unit.” Then he handed each player a wrist band inscribed with the words, “Find Your Purpose.” Championship game day, every player was wearing the wrist band. 

“And they played with purpose,” Taylor said. “I can honestly say that.”

He could say that because, while he was physically 200 miles away, he was connected by Felder’s ear pods.

“He was in my ear, in my ear pods, the entire time,” Felder said. 

With two minutes left in the first half, things weren’t going well for Henry. Down 18-8,  Felder heard Taylor in his ear telling him not to worry, that “it’s a long game.” Felder called a timeout to gather his team.   

“I pulled them in and said, you all just got punched out,” he recalled. “I said it was our time to fight back.”

With time winding down in the half, Rashan Boyd, the Championship’s MVP, hit a three-point shot from the corner to tie the game. The second half belonged to the Hawks, who won by seven points.

With many of their players headed to high school, Taylor and Felder will be looking for a new group to mold into “accountable” student athletes. But for now, Taylor is savoring the championship season.

“To see them grow skill-wise and maturity-wise and be able to watch them season to season,” he said, pausing, “It made me want to cry.”