Coach Hurley coached 30 kids at the Armory on Wednesday evening.
By Nancy Peckenham
He’s coached thousands of young basketball players in a 40-year career that has brought his school, St. Anthony of Jersey City, 23 state championships and three national title. Now Coach Bob Hurley, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, has brought his coaching skills to the Newburgh Armory Unity Center where, on Wednesday evening, he worked with 29 young men and one young woman on sharpening their skills.
Hurley came to Newburgh at the invitation of James Gagliano, a coach at the center who also heads up the regional anti-gang effort spearheaded by the FBI. Hurley believes that sports can help rescue young people from the streets and before the practice he said that in addition to drills with the ball, he would be telling the players how important school is and how they have to be careful as they get older about the people they choose to hang out with.
The coach gave the players some pointers before the start of practice.
As the young players, ranging in age from five to 15, gathered around him, Hurley stressed three factors that he believes leads to success on the basketball court. First, a young player should watch older players and imitate moves they see. Secondly, a player should repeat and repeat those plays until they become second nature. Key to that is the third element: a place to play ball. Hurley looked around the massive gym in the Armory that has been transformed into a place where hundreds of kids come to play a variety of sports.
The players, all members of the Boys & Girls Club AAU Basketball league, were eager to get started and play with the coach. Hurley divided them into groups, then loosely orchestrated a series of passes to the left and right that got the players thinking about how they make their moves.
Hurley, who is known for being a very demanding coach to his high school players, seemed to enjoy working with the young players in Newburgh. According to a 60 Minutes profile of Hurley, he pushes the players during grueling workouts and makes them all sign a commitment that bans certain behaviors on and off the court.
Coach Gary Jeter of the Boys & Girls Club helped out during the practice.
While clearly basketball is his sport of choice, Hurley said that young athletes benefit from playing different sports year round – football, soccer and baseball – then choose one sport to focus on when they’re older.
Hurley told a story of how when he was in eighth grade he was 5’1” but wanted to be on the basketball team in high school. He said someone told him he should learn to use his left hand as well as he does his right and he practiced all summer long to do it. By tryout time, he said, the coach had to ask him if he was right- or left-handed, a sign that he had achieved his goal.
Hurley’s visit to the Newburgh Armory is part of a program to reach out to the city’s youth. To learn more about the Armory programs, stop by on the weekend at 355 S. William Street in Newburgh.
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