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Aug. 17, 2009
AGUASCALIENTES, Mexico - Former University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) men's basketball standout Jareem Dowling loves the game of basketball. He loves playing it, he loves coaching it and he loves what it can do for the youth of a nation.
Dowling, now in his second season as the assistant coach at Slippery Rock University, is the head coach of the Virgin Islands U-17 men's basketball national team. A native of the Virgin Islands, Dowling feels he is having an impact on the young men of his homeland while working in the game he loves.
The team he coaches, in its second year under his guidance, became the first Virgin Islands youth team to advance to the FIBA Americas Championship, being held in 2010.
"It was great, definitely great," said Dowling in an interview with The Virgin Islands Daily News. "My slogan for the team was to bring island fever to Mexico, and that it was a `we' thing. I kept stressing that and after the last game they celebrated and understood they won as a team."
In the past, the Virgin Islands had been represented in an Americas Championship, which features the 10 best teams from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean, only by the senior men's team.
Dowling was supported by Local Basketball Federation president Sen. Usie Richards who stressed the fact that the team was there to take care of business. They did just that, upsetting the Dominican Republic in the bronze medal game.
The team was by far the youngest in the event and was up and down. Dowling led them to a blowout win over Nicaragua, but a tough loss to Mexico in the semifinals set the table for the upset win over the Dominican Republic.
"After the Mexico game I told them in life you have good days and bad days and you can't let the bad days continue to affect you," Dowling said. "I told them, `Look we still have a chance to make history,' and it really clicked for those guys."
Despite a one point lead at the half, the V.I. took control in the second half.
"At halftime we were up and the guys realized it was right in front of them, and they smelled blood and went on the attack," said Dowling.
The coaching staff caught some flack for the team make-up which featured just three 17-year-olds, mostly 15- and 16-year-olds and even a 14-year-old. Dowling, however, stood by his decision. "Those 12 guys who put on a uniform, they may not have been the best 12 guys in the Virgin Islands, but they were 12 hardworking guys who were the best pieces to the puzzle for the coaching staff to put together."
Dowling produced results, making history for the Virgin Islands and earning the respect of his country and most importantly, those 12 young men.
Dowling's comments appear from a Daily News article written by Chris Walsh.
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