As players practice their jump shots on the court, the soundtrack to "Space Jam" blares in the background. The coaches of the two opposing teams walk over to one another and shake hands. The two teams stop warming up and gather around their respective coaches. "Go Balls!" shouts the team in maroon uniforms.
It's time for the Rhode Island School of Design's basketball team, the Balls, to take the court.
Quiet at first, a small crowd of about 20 spectators who have ventured into the Wheeler School gymnasium where the Balls are taking on Sarah Lawrence soon becomes animated.
Though the Balls lost to the Gryphons (an alternate spelling of the mythical "griffins") 57-53, their fans' applause and cheers were not diminished.
"We have great fans who come out to our games," said Don Morton, associate director of the Office of Student Life at RISD. "It is not about winning - it is just all about pure support for the team." Morton said the small turnout for that week's game was atypical for a RISD Balls game. Recently, he said, the Balls drew 400 fans when they faced RISD's main rival, the Pratt Institute.
The Balls (yes, it's intentional) have been entertaining fans since 2000 with their moves on the court and their signature slogan: "When the heat is on, the Balls stick together." RISD's other athletic headliners, the 'Nads, play hockey at Meehan Auditorium to fans cheering (of course)
"Go Nads!"
"My nephew is on the team and it is great to go out and support him - but I've been a fan of the Balls for awhile now," said team supporter Sherry O'Brien. "Usually being at a RISD game is unlike going to any other game."
For O'Brien's nephew, freshman Cooper O'Brien, what adds to this unique atmosphere of a RISD Balls game is the make-up of the team itself. "People come from different parts of the school, which provides completely different points of view when it's game time," he said. "There are so many different levels of skill on the team, and I think that as a team we are all pieces of a larger whole - we are all complementing one another's level of skill."
Sherry said that the positive energy of the Balls' fans and the RISD players makes for exciting, unpredictable games. "When there are big crowds, there is usually a lot of really amusing yelling out, and it's hilarious when the RISD band will come out and it will just be a kid with a ukulele and another with a wooden flute," she added.
For the team's players, the opportunity to play for the Balls offers the chance to escape from a heavy workload. "Obviously this gives us a chance to stay in shape, but it's definitely nice to have something to do other than work," said team captain and RISD junior
Coral Anderson.
Anderson, who had participated in athletics throughout his childhood and high school years, was unsure of what it would be like to attend an arts school where athletic programs are not a major part of campus life, he said.
"It was a big adjustment at first and completely different from high school, but it is like home in that we have great support from our fans," Anderson said. "We don't win all the time, but they all come out to support us. It's a lot of fun."
Behind every united team is a dedicated coach. Leading the Balls is William Miller, a RISD alum and technician in the school's painting department. After the Balls' previous coach left the team, students in the painting department asked Miller to take the position.
For Miller, a former high school athlete now in his second season as the team's coach, the opportunity to coach the Balls gave him the chance to enjoy two of his passions, sports and art.
This balance of athletics and painting is evidenced by the arrangement of his 2 College Street office. The shelves are filled with stacks of paint buckets, brushes and other art supplies, but a sack full of basketballs sits nearby.
Since taking on the coaching position, Miller has been trying to get as much publicity for the team as possible.
This publicity includes a deal with Converse that resulted in the company providing the team with warm-up gear, uniforms, shoes, socks and gym bags.
"The visibility of the program has gone up with the Converse deal - my objective was to garner as much attention as I could get for the team," Miller said.
Miller said that he would love for this visibility to include the Balls opening for a Brown game in the future, or for more Brown students to venture over to watch games
at Wheeler.
But more important than publicity is the need to encourage the sense of school spirit that the Balls seems to generate, Miller said.
"I really like the joy that (basketball) brings to the students, the players, the fans and the staff at the school. It's equal part recreation and entertainment value," Miller said.
What adds to this entertainment value is unique energy and creativity that the players bring to the game, Miller said.
"We play with as much passion as Duke, but without the full-ride scholarships. RISD students are creative and creativity can find itself in almost every field in human endeavor," Miller said.
