Operating in a leadership role during unsure times is no small task. For Tyree Boykin, it’s an opportunity for personal growth and team unity.
As I asked Boykin how he has continued to lead his team through the season of COVID-19, he responded with this advice from his coach.
“Coach told us we should enjoy time being regular students,” Tyree Boykin, junior business administration major and team captain of the men’s basketball team said. “And it’s time for us to excel in the classrooms as best we can.”
Boykin has grown up in a family centered around basketball, as his father played in college and several of the Boykin siblings have gone on to carry out their father’s legacy. Boykin was born and raised in Clarksville, Tenn. and although he doesn’t live far from Union, the process of discovering Union University was unique.
During his high school basketball career, Boykin endured a knee injury that required three surgeries. This caused many colleges that had previously reached out to Boykin to back away from their prior offers. This was discouraging, as it would be for any high school athlete, and he began eyeing junior colleges instead. However, while he was boating in August of his senior year, Boykin received a call from David Niven, coach of the men’s basketball team at Union University.
“I finally got here on a visit and as soon as I came here, I loved it.” said Boykin with a huge smile on his face. “I got to play against some local guys and some really good competition, and I played really well. So, he offered me the scholarship, and I committed on the spot.”
The rest is history, or so we would love to think. There was no way Boykin could see what challenges would await him as he is now tasked with leading his team during a global pandemic.
His leadership ability was evident from the moment he started telling me his story. Boykin came in as a freshman and brought his best efforts to every single practice. Although he was just a freshman on a team full of upperclassmen, he always tried to have some kind of voice on the team. He couldn’t help but lead. He credits this mentality in regards to being unanimously voted team captain for two years in a row.
“I think Tyree is one of the best leaders I’ve coached in my career. He has a God-given gift of leadership,” Niven said as I asked him how Boykin has led during this specific season. “What I think sets him apart from everyone else is the fact that he’s not consumed with himself. He genuinely cares about his teammates, and he wants to make them better. He desires to lead them, and he is willing to serve his teammates. All of these things are what makes him special.”
Boykin told his story of being quarantined for a month. Six players tested positive on the team shortly after arriving on campus, sending everyone else on the team into quarantine. On Boykin’s last day in quarantine, he started developing symptoms which resulted in a positive test for the coronavirus. Now, sitting outside of Barefoots, he has just come out of a month of sitting, waiting, recovering and thinking.
It is the mental endurance of the team that will carry them through this unusual season.
Boykin explained how there are some teams who have incredible talent but poor leadership, and this combination will not result in a successful season. However, there are other teams with strong leadership, though perhaps not as physically gifted, that will excel because of their mental toughness.
Union University has a team that is surrounded with strong leaders like Tyree Boykin, and this is what gives them potential for a season of growth in the midst of quarantine and sickness. COVID-19 is tough for everyone in different ways, but athletes must be able to bounce back quickly, both physically and mentally, after being quarantined or isolated.
As an outsider looking in, with absolutely no athletic talent myself, I didn’t expect this thread of mental toughness to be central to the game of basketball. Often, I make the mistake of thinking of athletes as pure physical talent, but their minds play a bigger role in the game.
“What is the hardest part about this particular season?” I asked.
“The hardest thing is that we want to play,” Boykin responded in a somber tone. “I know how everything’s usually supposed to go. We start conditioning here. We start practice here. We start doing this and that, but we are completely thrown off. Nothing is remotely the same. So for me it’s like I went from thinking I’m coming in this year knowing the basis of how stuff is going to go. Everyone comes to me asking me questions, but this year, I have no idea.”
The consistency and comfort he thought would be true of this season doesn’t exist. Life is completely different for all of us, and we must become acquainted with a new normal. But how do we learn this “new normal” when all we really desire is the old ways before a pandemic?
Boykin has learned to do this with his mind and his thoughts. Just as athletes practice physically every single day, the team must learn the practice of renewing their thought life. Yes, this is a difficult practice, but is necessary for a successful season.
“One of the better things is actually having time to stop and actually think,” Boykin said. “So much stuff has been happening, especially for me over these past couple of years with me playing and having a successful freshmen and sophomore year. Now I can finally stop and kinda look back and reflect. It gives me more time to think about the next move to make.”
Photo credit: UU Athletics.
