Ex-Harlem Globetrotter delivers anti-bullying message, trick passes to students
Tay Fisher knows how to play basketball. He spent 10 years as a Harlem Globetrotter. He scored 19 points in an NCAA tournament victory for Siena College.
So, when he missed a free throw in front of a gymnasium full of Linden Avenue Middle School students Thursday morning, it was clearly for a reason.
“I’m a little upset. My confidence is low,” he told the students. “Raise your hand and tell me what you would say to help get my confidence up.”
The students eagerly complied. “You got this!” one said. “It’s OK.” Said another. “If you make every shot you take, you’ll never have anything to strive for.”
Fisher, a basketball standout turned motivational speaker, visited LAMS to conduct a pair of presentations teaching students how to combat bullying and harassment through positive actions and mindset.
The Kingston native spoke with seventh and eighth grade students first, followed by the sixth graders and fifth graders who were bussed from Mill Road Elementary School. The presentations were filled with opportunities to laugh, including a closing section in which five students learned trick basketball passes in a Globetrotter style.
Throughout, he preached the importance of encouragement and support through both his words and his interactions with student volunteer participants. “I’m here to talk to you about a message that changes peoples’ lives,” he told the groups early on.
Fisher grabbed the students’ attention from the outset by having them try – and fail – to keep up with a series of complicated clapping games in the vein of Simon Says. He then explained it was important they give him their attention “because, they could be someone being bullied and no one knows about it. Or, they know someone being bullied and they’re not speaking up.”
Fisher broke bullying into three types – physical, verbal and cyber – before spending time expounding on the power bullies can have on social media. To illustrate the point, he ran through a list of obviously untrue insults a malicious commenter could theoretically post about him online.
“That one person who wrote that, you have to understand their voice is powerful,” he said. “Now nobody wants me on their team. Now no schools want to hire me to talk to their kids. The power of your voice is so important. … Everything you say, make sure it’s positive. Make sure it’s going to help you and the next person.”
Fisher shaped his advice to the students around the letters in his first name – and had student volunteers use their bodies to create the letters’ shapes:
T for Talk: “If you are being bullied or see someone being bullied, talk to a trusted adult.”
A for Ask Questions: “Where do I go to feel safe? … Wherever that safe place is for you, that’s probably where your trusted adult is.”
Y for You: “It’s not about me, it’s about you. … Empathy means caring about other people, feeling how they feel and feeling yourself in their shoes.”
That brought him to the free throws and his intentional miss to elicit encouraging words. But, he wasn’t the only one shooting. A student – who claimed he couldn’t shoot a basketball and wasn’t keen try in front of dozens of peers – was asked to take a turn. He missed. And missed again. And several times after that.
Fisher and the rest of the students, though, chanted his name to encourage him to keep going. When he finally made a hoop, the gym erupted.
“He didn’t come up here expecting to have to shoot in front of you,” Fisher said. “You guys cheered him on, regardless. … As long as we continue to say positive things to each other and to ourselves, that’s all that matters.”