Building Relationships On and Off The Court
The men's basketball team exemplifies how competition breeds intimate friendships, and how those relationships can play a key role in success
Embedded Files
by Xavier Silva
Students, faculty, alumni, and Providence natives alike made their way to the Pizzitola Sports Center in droves. If you didn’t arrive by 7:15 there’s no way you were getting in.
Event staff held the line as long as they could, hurling vulgar shouts at the mob that had formed before them. Step by step, inch by inch, people slowly forced their way to the front of the crowd, had their tickets scanned, and headed to the bleachers.
Behind either hoop stood seas of laughing, “Bruno”-chanting, towel-waving college kids dressed in all white. Along the sides of the court sat relatives, outside friends, and other supporters of each team.
The warmups concluded, and each team sent their starting five onto the court for the tip-off. The referee blew his whistle and tossed the basketball into the air.
A deafening roar filled the air. Welcome to the first sellout crowd Brown basketball has seen since 2012. Consider the Pizz packed.
In the 2022-23 season, the Brown men’s basketball team improved both their overall win total and their conference record to 14-13 and 7-7 respectively compared to 13-16 and 5-9 in the previous year.
Finishing the season at 5th in the Ivy League standings, the Bears were only one win away from earning a spot in the Ivy League Play-In Tournament and, if victorious, a chance at competing for a national title.
The game in question is none other than the March 4th matchup between Brown and the Yale Bulldogs, which attracted the largest home crowd Brown had seen in years.
This game not only showed off the Bears’ high level of athleticism and basketball prowess, but also their heart and invaluable camaraderie. A closer look at the close relationship between sophomore Sam Klores (left) and Second Team All Ivy-League finisher, senior captain Paxson Wojcik (right) truly shows how basketball has brought them and the entire team together both on and off the court.
Sports has been the medium that’s allowed their friendship to flourish and does so for countless other athletes.
Klores had this to say in regards to building relationships with his teammates, “I think the best part about our team is that we’re all super close off the court… there’s 15 of us and all of us have great relationships… It makes it fun to come in even on the days where it feels like you’re grinding. At least we still get to hoop together and there’s nothing like that.”
Beneath the surface of many sports teams is a network of deep rooted friendships that all together form a sense of family.
Klores and Wojcik’s story begins in the fall of 2021. That semester, Klores arrived at Brown as a freshman straight out of his hometown of New York City. Wojcik was also stepping foot on campus as a student for the first time, but was a junior transfer from Loyola Chicago.
The two met that first week of classes and have grown closer and closer ever since. During the 2022-23 school year and season they’ve been seemingly inseparable and even live together.
When reflecting on the role that basketball has played in bringing them together, Paxson said this, “A teammate is more than just a friendship. I think it’s a special type of friendship. Any time that you are united with someone towards a common goal of winning games, or winning the championship, or representing Brown as a basketball player I think it brings you closer to each other because of shared experiences… We’re getting up to do our lifts together, we’re in the dining hall together, we’re on the bus to road games together. Just combining the amount of time you spend together with a kind of like mindedness, I think comes as a natural formula to bring people closer together.”
Playing sports is what enabled these two to develop a lifelong friendship, and the creation of these strong bonds is a significant element of high level athletics that shouldn’t be lost on spectators.
The Bears speed down the court after forcing a Bulldog turnover, but the fastbreak is quickly stopped in its tracks as Yale commits a hard foul on Brown’s man with the ball.
The whistle blows as the referee jogs to the scorer’s table to announce the call, and during this deadball break the sounds of the crowd lull.
The scoreboard reads 9-22 in favor of the visiting Bulldogs. Wojcik calls his four teammates on the floor with him under their basket where they briefly huddle.
Wojcik comes out of the huddle with a renewed sense of urgency and intensity, and on the very next play drives to the hoop for a tough and one layup.
The crowd roars with excitement, but quickly quiets down for the subsequent free throw attempt.
Wojcik walks to the line, breathes in slowly, shrugs his shoulders, and swishes the shot.
He wasn’t done either. The Bears get back on defense, and Wojcik immediately takes the ball right back.
After intercepting Yale’s pass, Wojcik drives down the court and makes a pass to his teammate, who then finds First Team All-Ivy League finisher, Kino Lilly Jr., to knock down a huge three point shot. 15-22.
Yale calls a timeout to regroup and stymie the Bears’ rally. The crowd rises to their feet and announces their Bruno pride for the entire gym to hear.
The Bears head over to the bench, and Klores is the first player to dap up and embrace Wojcik. Wojcik takes a seat in the huddle and Klores stands right beside him.
Not only has basketball been a way of Klores and Wojcik developing their own personal friendship, but it’s been a way for the entire team to grow closer.
The basketball court is certainly not the only place you might spot this group of guys. During their down time, you could find them playing NBA 2K, watching Avengers, hosting a Super Bowl party, watching the Lakers’ game, playing competitive games of Uno, or something as simple as studying together in the library.
Klores had this to say about how the team gets along, “We all really like spending time with each other whether it’s in the locker room or off the court. I think everyone has a really good relationship with each player on the team… no one feels left out of anything and I think that makes us a more connected group on the floor.”
Building on the point that Klores’ makes, there certainly can be on the court benefits of building off the court relationships. Being true friends with your teammates will often make for more cohesive units in almost any team sport.
Wojcik said this about the role friendship plays in success on the court, “I would say in our case specifically, one thing at this level that is huge for team success is being able to celebrate individual success whether it’s yourself or your teammates. If it’s Sam getting a bucket or Dan Friday, I’ve got to be able to celebrate that with just as much joy as I celebrate with when I score, and it’s so much easier to celebrate each other’s success when you like that person off the court. So I think that’s one thing with our group. We all enjoy seeing each other succeed.”
The sentiment that Wojcik expresses is certainly present in he and Klores own friendship too, as he said this about the athletic chemistry the two share, “Definitely there's chemistry. In practice whenever we’re either going against each other, we might have a little bit more fun with it than usual. Or if we’re on the same team we might be like ‘yo we’re on the same team, let’s get this today’... when your roommate is out there making plays with you or you’re making plays against him it makes the situation that much more intense.”
So, how is it that sports breed this unique level of intimacy amongst teammates? As Wojcik noted, it has a great deal to do with shared experiences and competition.
Klores said this about what brings the team together the most, “I would really say just the everyday aspect of it… you’re expected to bring it everyday. Obviously there are days you feel better than others, but I think the really cool thing about our group is that if we see that in one another, we’re all close enough and trust each other enough to be like ‘I know you can give me more’. And when you know that the accountability aspect doesn’t have to come from the coaching staff and it’s one of your own boys, one of your own teammates, that makes you want to pick it up more for that person, for the team… That’s a huge unifier for us.”
The trials and tribulations that come with sports really do bring people closer together.
Wojcik slashes through the paint and finishes at the cup to make the score 67-74. Timeout Brown. The situation is dire now.
The sound of “Turn Down For What” echoes throughout the gym along with the yells of thousands of Brown supporters. The two teams take the court again, and Brown comes out in a full court press.
Yale manages to inbound the ball, but the Bears foul immediately. The Bulldog at the line bricks the first free throw but manages to sink the second.
Time passes and both sides exchange free throws, making the score 69-77.
Brown quickly inbounds the ball and feeds Wojcik. He takes it to the rim yet again and finishes with a nice floater over the outreached arm of the defender.
71-77 with only 37.6 seconds left.
The Bears are forced to foul the Bulldogs every possession now, and the writing is on the wall.
With less than 20 seconds left, Yale inbounds the ball and Wojcik fouls the ball carrier, officially fouling out of the game.
In a moment full of emotion, he made his way to the bench with the support of a standing ovation and “Woj” chants ringing behind him.
All Brown supporters felt a great sense of pride for what the men’s basketball team was able to accomplish this season and for the huge contribution Wojcik made as a senior team captain, but in that moment no one clapped louder than his close friend and teammate, Sam Klores.
Playing sports truly does bring people together, and sometimes developing those relationships can even have an affect on how well teams play. This is certainly the case with the tight knit, men’s basketball team at Brown.
Here you have a group of guys that genuinely care about each other and enjoy being around each other both on and off the court. They’re a prime example of the power of playing sports and the unique relationships that athletes develop.
Xavier Silva, a sophomore linebacker at Brown with a great interest in the nuance of social life.
Building Relationships On and Off The Court:
What led me to write about my overarching topic for these features is the separation between athletes and the rest of the student body that I've witnessed during my time at Brown. With that said, for this story specifically, I thought it'd be interesting to look at some of the reasons why athletes tend to stick together and how playing sports unites individuals. People who've never played team sports in an organized capacity won't be able to understand the strong bonds that get built on the court, field, pool, track or wherever else one might be competing at. After talking with Paxson and Sam, it was clear that their story is a great example of how sports, especially at a high level, can bring people together and how the mens' basketball team as a whole benefits from the friendships that those guys have formed. I decided to interview the two of them at once so that their chemistry could jump off the page through their quotes. I hope that this story is able to shed some light on the relationship building that occurs amongst sports teams.
Sources:
All photos courtesy of BrownBears.com - https://brownbears.com/galleries/mens-basketball/mens-basketball-vs-yale-3-4-23-/2795
Page updated
Report abuse