After 38 years of coaching in the LSSD students say farewell to Coach Alleyne
On April 7, the students at Lockport School heard the official announcement that basketball Coach Randy Alleyne, Sr. is retiring from his volunteer coaching role now that this year’s season has come to an end. Coach Alleyne has volunteered for the Lord Selkirk School Division as a basketball coach for 38 years and has taken on the role at Lockport School for the past 35 years.
“The first year was actually coaching the Grade 7 boys team. My oldest lad, Randy (Jr.) joined. He was in Grade 7 and he was instrumental in getting me in the door because they were looking for a coach for Grade 7. He piped up and said, ‘My dad knows basketball,’ and so here I am. From that day on I started coaching the boys. I took them from Grade 7 through Grade 9 and then after their
Grade 9 year I came back and started with Grade 7 again,” said Alleyne.
He had a total of three sons who played basketball and enjoyed coaching all three.
In his first year as a basketball coach he said that the students started out pretty new to the sport but did well.
“They didn’t know much about basketball, but they sure learned fast. I wouldn’t say that the teams that I’ve had were difficult to coach. They were all interested. They wanted to learn. I wanted to make sure that the fundamentals were there, their skills were there, and they knew what the game was all about,” said Alleyne.
Even when his sons had made their way through their middle school year’s basketball teams, Alleyne decided to remain on as a coach for the love of it.
“(It was) just the joy of coaching basketball and wanting to make sure that the kids, as they came along through the system, knew what the game was all about and again, to improve their skills, know the fundamentals of the game and to, you know, just go there and put their best foot forward,” explained Alleyne.
He said that his philosophy of coaching meant that he never asked his student-athletes to go in and win a game but he did ask them to make sure that they had fun playing.
Some of his highlights of coaching during his 35 years in Lockport were coaching students that he also coached in the summer as a soccer coach.
“(There was a) Grade 9 girls team. They were fun. Because I coached soccer at the same time during the summer, some of the girls were on the team for basketball, but they were used to playing soccer, and they were, let’s say, rough and tough. You would get some shoulder checking and pushing. There were a couple of them, but one in particular stood out, and (Mr. Marco Morelli, a teacher at Lockport School and Alleyne’s co-coach) would look at her and say, ‘You can’t push. You’re not playing soccer. You’re were playing basketball. That’s not part of the game,’ but it was fun. We enjoyed coaching and they turned out to be very good, very good basketball players in the end,” he said.
Alleyne also spoke about a tournament in the early 2000s where he was very proud of his students as a group of five Grade 9 boys were the only ones to make it out to a tournament and ended up winning the entire thing. This feat was actually repeated again quite recently with another team ending up in the same situation.
Alleyne says that every year was a great year of coaching.
“They were all great years. The fact that the boys (came in) not really knowing what to expect, but being told that this is what I want to have from you by the end of the season. I always said, You know nothing about basketball. You’re here to learn and what I want you to do is to listen. I don’t want you to go to win a game, but what I would like to see is the things that you learn in practice, you put into play and as you go along, you will develop. You’re going to win some, you’re going to lose some, but it’s all about improving your skills, sticking to the fundamentals and having fun. If you’re having fun, the winning will come,” he explained.
School sports are naturally not just about learning to dribble a ball or even for physical activity. School sports help students learn about the fundamental skills that they need to get by as adults. Alleyne hopes that his students learned not just how to play basketball but respect for themselves and others as they played on his team.
“I have a secretary here who said, I always know the kids that were in your team, because they turn out to be ladies and gentlemen. It’s respect yourself, respect your opponents, respect the coaches, respect the refs, and you and I’ll get along fine,” he said.
As for himself, Alleyne says that he learned that every student in unique and will surprise you.
“They’re all different, that is for sure, each and every player has the ability to do something and surprise you in the end,” he said.
After 38 years, Alleyne has coached a whole generation of young athletes in our region.
“I’ve had 38 wonderful years coaching boys and girls teams, and if I had to, I would do it all over again,” he said.
Morelli at the assembly announcing Alleyne’s retirement had some great things to say about the long-time coach.
“I’ve had a blast working with him over the years. We did some math, averaging out, say, 12 players in 38 years that’s just under 500 athletes he’s coached over the years, over 35 years here and 38 years he’s coached in the division, not including the WNBA, one of the Winnipeg minor teams that he sometimes coached as well. His players learned life skills as well as court skills. He got started, as I said, coaching his boys here, but the passion for coaching never left and at 77 years he’s still going strong. He will be retiring from coaching after this year, and we wanted to thank him for all his years of service and volunteerism and your excellent coaching,” said Morelli.
