New York High School Hoops Coach Buys Opposing Team Shoes

The Holiday Season seems to bring out the best and the worst, in some cases, but let's focus on the best. The 'Best' is the category that I put Cicero-North Syracuse boys basketball coach Kyle Martin in this season. No, I am not talking about winning basketball games. I am talking about winning in life.

In a really cool story by Lindsay Kramer of syracuse.com, Coach Martin saw a Twitter post that said a Section III team had basketball players who needed new shoes so that they could play this season. The report said that the post didn’t identify the school but was looking to raise awareness about the situation. That was enough to get the Cicero-North Syracuse coach's attention.

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Coach Kyle Martin had to do something. “I said to my wife (Kelly), can you imagine, loving the game of basketball, which is a cheap sport in general, and not having enough money for shoes? That’s got to be horrific,” Then according to Kramer, Martin 'contacted the man who posted the tweet, Jeff Richardson, who coaches junior varsity girls basketball at Nottingham and also runs a local AAU squad. Richardson told him the team in need was Utica Academy of Science.'

This is where the story in syracuse.com gets even better, 'Coach Martin didn’t want to single out a couple players by buying shoes for just them. So he decided to be inclusive and spring for shoes for everyone. He ordered 14 pairs of Nike’s Paul George models, and paid the $1,700 bill out of his own pocket. He then went to Utica’s scrimmage at Rome Free Academy on Saturday to personally hand them out to the stunned players.'

It's great to celebrate coaches wins and championships. It's even better when we can celebrate coaches that are teaching our high school student-athletes about important life lessons, like caring and generosity towards others, even when they are from an opposing team. Awesome job Coach Martin!