When you see a basketball player with their ball, one might assume it’s just a piece of equipment.
But for the Tallahassee Community College women’s team, the ball holds a higher purpose.
Franqua Bedell has been the head coach at TCC since 2013. He’s carried this tradition with him ever since he was an assistant coach at Southeastern Missouri State University. Coach Bedell said it’s to show his players what their true purpose is.
“You come here for books and basketball, so we would give them a basketball and we would give them a backpack and then all their books for their classes,” Bedell said.
Lindsay John is in her second year on the team, and she was initially confused about the tradition.
“I didn’t really understand the purpose of carrying the ball, but then I realized it was just the process,” John said.
The girls are required to carry the ball everywhere with them for 24 hours a day from the first day of their freshman year to the last day of their sophomore season. Because of this, many people around the community instantly recognize the player.
Bedell said that this recognition makes the players role models for the community.
“You’re representing yourself, the program, and you’re representing something,” Bedell said. “I think what that is giving our student-athletes is a sense of responsibility, first of all, a sense of pride, second of all, and third of all it’s given them a sense [that] it’s more to the game than just basketball.”
Walking around the team’s gym, it’s almost guaranteed that one can see players with the blue and yellow basketballs. While the manifest effect of the balls is to remind the players of their purpose, it has also given them an identity around campus.
“It’s given us a brand. So when our student-athletes, our young ladies, are walking to class the very first day, people know ‘thats a basketball player’,” said Bedell.
Including TCC and Southeast Missouri State, Bedell has coached at five different colleges. He’s carried this tradition through each school, and each year he sees the graduating sophomores understand the ball a little more.
“You can talk to our sophomores now and they have a better understanding from their freshman year to their sophomore year of what that ball represents and what it means,” Bedell said.
Bedell hopes that with each year the girls learn to be more balanced, and discover their true purpose so they can lead successful lives after college.
“We’ve had success stories. I mean to be honest with you, I’m not bragging [but] we’ve probably had too many to talk about, and that’s a good thing. And that’s what I’m most proud of.”
