HANOVER — Ever since his childhood days, the courtroom at Catholic Memorial has served as a sanctuary for Ryan Higgins and his father, Bruce. If you have been to walk into the West Roxbury gymnasium, likelihood is you’ll discover the 2, at all times striving to enhance on their video games.
On Saturday, years of arduous work paid off. Ryan Higgins would go on to transform 87.56% of his shot makes an attempt, profitable the 2023 A Shot For Life boys basketball championship at Starland Sportsplex and Fun Park within the course of.
For Higgins, capturing the title for his dad was an final objective. During the previous couple of years, his father has courageously battled melanoma. Yet after all, he has at all times been there, rebounding for his son as a mentor.
“The link between him having cancer and this being a fundraiser for cancer, it means a lot,” Higgins mentioned. “Because he’s had cancer for a while now. It’s been off and on. For (us) to win it, it feels great.”
Higgins beat out quite a few stars for the crown, together with the likes of Phillips Exeter’s Ryder Frost (84.66%) and longtime St. Sebastian’s standout Trevor Mullin (82.75%).
To the shock of few, he opted to pick his father because the one to feed him passes. The longtime Catholic Memorial assistant coach couldn’t assist however turn into emotional throughout the ceremonies.
“He works really, really hard,” Bruce Higgins tearfully mentioned. “I just couldn’t be prouder of the kid. He grinds. He’s the only guy in the MIAA here, and he took a lot of pride in that. He’s been wearing an ‘A Shot For Life’ T-shirt since second or third grade, because he was the ballboy at Catholic Memorial back when we won the state championship … he’s had his eye on this since second or third grade. I’m just proud of the kid.”
Ryan Higgins concluded his day by draining his last 25 pictures, placing an emphatic exclamation level on an epic efficiency.
“What I would say is that when we pick our roster, we know how to scout,” mentioned ASFL Founder and CEO Mike Slonina. “We know what we’re looking at. So, I’m actually not surprised at all. (Higgins) was picked for a reason. He was picked because he deserved to be here, and because we thought he had a chance to win. And he did. So, credit to him, he’s worked so hard to be as good as he is.”
According to Slonina, almost $50,000 has been raised by the event up to now. He emphasised that nothing is feasible with out the arduous work that the collaborating athletes flip in.
“Every ounce of credit goes to the players in this organization,” mentioned Slonina. “These are kids that are going through success at a young age. People say adversity reveals character. I think that’s partly true. I think success reveals character. The fact that they’re so unselfish, that they do this, they raise the money, they come to an orientation, they really put a lot into it to be in that jersey, and to be here at the All-Star Game and the Challenge. I think they deserve a mountain of credit for that.”
As his son raised the trophy, Bruce Higgins smiled, and reminisced on all their years collectively. Not merely as a coach and participant, but additionally as a father-son duo.
“I can’t put it into words,” he mentioned. “I know how hard he works at it. He doesn’t take time off. To be a good player, you have to sacrifice a little bit. We talked about that when he was little, that if you want to play, and you want to play at a high level, play at college, you have to make some sacrifices. He’s done that. He’s a 4.0 (G.P.A.) academically, and he can shoot a basketball pretty good, too.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com