By Matt Moses, Kent Christian, Shanna Reese and McKenzie Scott
A wave of emotions swept through and for a split second, the enormous stadium that is usually filled with screaming fans, eager athletes, and greasy concession stand food, fell completely tranquil and silent.
Ben Goodman, without a second thought, instantly found his home. McKenzie Arena is known for its beautiful basketball facility and has nearly reached its capacity while hosting over 11,800 people.
Former UTC women’s basketball coach, Jim Foster, gave Ben an opportunity that has changed his life forever. Ben was interested in joining the staff at UTC and Jim gave him the benefit of the doubt by allowing him to join in on a practice. He was so nervous to attend a practice the first day he got asked that he made up an excuse not to go. However, when he decided to take the next step, it was something he didn’t regret.
The feeling Ben felt when he made it to his first practice is one, he’s never felt before. He knew he made the right decision. Ben Goodman is currently the full-time manager for UTC’s women's basketball and volleyball team and is a part time equipment manager for the football team.
Ben is originally from China. His mother is an American citizen and his father is a Canadian citizen, which makes Ben a dual citizen. He was born in Hong Kong but moved shortly after 9/11 to a city named Coral Springs, roughly an hour outside of Miami. After living in south Florida for a while, he then moved to Marietta, Georgia, extremely close to the new Braves stadium, and from there receded back to north Florida. Ben says the transitions were a bit difficult. He didn’t like getting close to a group of people and then having to leave them and start all over again. However, during Ben’s eighth grade year in Georgia he joined the football team and made a lot of friends in which he says “made up for it”.
Ben had a rough transition into his Sophomore year of High School. Like many have experienced, he lost friends who turned on him and got him into legal trouble, but luckily things all turned around for the better. He discovered the path for him. He was having a rough day, when one of his teachers asked him to come sit by her. She was watching film of a game when Ben proceeded to ask her if there was anything he could do, she told him to stop by the game that night and find out, so that’s exactly what he did.
This was the moment that launched his career. The coach told him to come back the following year when there was a position available for him. Ben started by filming for the team and worked his way up the ladder to courtside. He helped with by giving players their waters and towels, he also used the app Game Cast to track the stats of the game. Ben was able to help the coach see the player’s shooting percentages and evaluate the stats during half time to figure out a game plan for the second half. He took it upon himself to take his experience to the next level, he wasn’t asked as a manager to do this.
“Being intuitive is a huge part of this job. Being able to get to know the coaches and players well enough to know what they need before they know they need it. It makes the job smoother and easier for everybody,” says Ben.
Ben ended up managing five, nearly six, teams his Senior year of High School. He managed both men and women’s basketball, soccer, and women’s lacrosse (both JV and varsity). He had a lot to juggle between it being his senior year and graduation approaching, but this didn’t stop Ben. He continued to give it his all.
“I took it one step at a time. I saw the effort and tenacity the players put into it, so well hey, if they can do it, I can do it. I took their effort and tried to give it the same amount of effort, if not more,” says Ben.
He knew he wanted to attend college after his Senior year, but was stuck between UTC and Alabama. The tie breaker was the tour of both campuses. When Ben toured Alabama, it didn’t click for him, it felt too big, but when he toured UTC it felt just right. It felt homier although, the campus is small it isn’t a small school. When Ben began at UTC, he knew he wanted to continue manage. He got in touch with the Women’s basketball coach at the local Starbucks and his collegiate career took off.
“Managing has become so much a part of my life, I didn’t want to know what it would be like without it, so I wanted to keep it going as much as I possibly could,” says Ben.
Ben is a huge Miami Heat fan. He admires coach Erik Spoelstra and gets a lot of his ambition for him.
“It all started with being a fan of the Miami Heat. Their current coach Erik Spoelstra worked his way up from the ranks of being their film director to being one of the greatest coaches in their history right now. If he can do it, so can I,” says Ben.
This mentality followed Ben to UTC. He’s been working with coaches that have a tremendous amount of basketball experience. Women’s assistant coach, Debby Black was 2001 WNBA defensive player of the year and women’s assistant coach, Brittany Johnson, played professionally in Israel. This experience has built up a lot of connections for Ben. The UTC women’s basketball team has worked with him the scenes to actually become a coach. Each year he has learned more and more to equip him for a better position. This year he’s learning how to scout recruits.
“It ultimately boils down to connections, seeing their ideas and incorporating it into my love for basketball and watching it continue,” says Ben.
Ben is using his experience to his advantage. His aspirations are to eventually coach in either the WNBA or the NBA. He hopes to either become a graduate assistant at UTC or an assistant at a High School and work his way up from there to get into coaching professionals.
Everyone’s journey starts somewhere, and this is Ben Goodman’s.