A.C. Dixon once said, “Prayer is the key to success. Not to pray is to fail. To pray aright is never to fail.” Just like Dixon, Wolmer’s Boys’ School basketball coach, Dr. Howard Harvey, is also one who firmly believes in the power of prayer and how applying it constantly mixed with faith can yield great success.
With a strong belief in God and the power of prayer, coach Harvey believes that the team’s recent success in the ISSA Basketball National Under-19 final was all due to this. Wolmer’s Boys secured their first ISSA Basketball title in more than thirty years with a thrilling 62-53 win over stern challengers, Jamaica College, in the National Under-19 final on February 28, 2024.
Coach Harvey, who was once homeless and a gang leader, says, having found God and become a coach, he has instilled the Word of God as his coaching principles. He says this is the foundation of his team’s history-making success, breaking a ten-match finals losing streak.
“With all the knowledge I have gained from my relationship with God, I feel I owe it to pass on the same knowledge to my team so that they can experience what I have experienced.”
When it comes to coaching, his will comes from his love and passion for the sport. “After spending some time in the YMCA, that is where I was introduced to God and basketball,” said coach Harvey.
When he was able to turn his life around, coach Harvey says that is where he learnt about God and basketball.
“When I began coaching, I started off on my own will, but after years of back-to-back defeats, I decided to change things two seasons ago and implement the Bible and prayer more, and that’s when it all started to change,” said Harvey.
While coach Harvey says his team firmly acknowledges God now, he stated that there was a bit of resistance at first.
“You know they are boys, they just want to play basketball and some refuse to rebel but they eventually one day decided to comply and that was when I started to see them working harder and believing in God to overcome all the obstacles before them.”
With the Bible having so many stories that can be compared to life currently, Dr. Harvey has used faith as the driving force of hope for his team as he acknowledged that implementing faith into sports can be done.
“The Bible contains so many lessons, and I believe young men in sports can use God to overcome competition. It’s not just about knowing the game and tactics, etc., but knowing the will of God and that constant prayer can reap great rewards.”
Having been ranked 14th out of the 15 teams in the competition, Wolmer’s Boys were never expected to make it as far as they did, but Dr. Harvey says that could have only been possible because of God.
“Many people would have counted us out, but even in the face of defeat, we remained humble. In the end, what we have achieved is a result of us as a team putting God first and him proving to me a vision I had that me and my boys are the head and not the tail, and in due time we would get the reward.”
Time indeed would reap the rewards, as they won the biggest title in schoolboy basketball. It has been proven by coach Howard Harvey that hard work, dedication, and, most importantly, faith in God will leave you victorious in life.