GAME ON: Brotherhood and Basketball

GAME ON: Brotherhood and Basketball

Brian McParlin honors his late-father through the game of basketball, while playing for a first-year coach at Fatima high - his older brother.

Like many student athletes, Devante Youn draws guidance and wisdom from his coach, and sees a mentor in Michael McParlin – his 24-year-old head basketball coach at Our Lady of Fatima: “He is my role model. He has inspired me to work harder at practices,” Devante says, a freshman player. An even deeper appreciation for Coach McParlin is felt by one of Devante’s teammates though, a freshman guard who doubles as the coach’s younger brother: “I want to play for him and only him” Brian McParlin says, speaking about playing for his older brother: “He will always guide me the right way.” Basketball has kept the McParlin boys close throughout their lives, despite a ten-year age gap. But this season, the union of sport and family has taken on new meaning – as the brothers form a new connection as player and coach, they are also paying tribute to their late-father, as brothers and sons.

A Father’s Passion

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While his sons went through adolescence, Joe McParlin worked the nighttime third shift just to be home when they returned from school, so he could practice basketball with his boys. He coached all three - Michael (24), Brian (14), and Kyle (13) - and functioned as a sleepless cheering chauffeur, driving them on week-ends to all-day AAU tournaments. On occasion, he would have to nap in between games simply to recover his strength. Joe loved basketball so much that he saw life through the lens of the game: “He used basketball to teach us hard work, responsibility, determination, commitment and team work,” Michael says, describing how his father raised his kids, “There was always basketball mentioned in our conversations.”

On November 9th, Joe took Brian to a pre-season basketball camp and suffered a sudden heart-attack, passing away just a month before Michael and Brian’s first Varsity season at Fatima. As the team has progressed during the season, Brian McParlin has used basketball as a grieving tool, with his father’s loss still so recent: “Basketball is my life,” he says, “It’s what our Dad used to do. We honor him through the game now.” Michael agrees that his father continues to echoe through the gym: “I feel him every time I step foot on the court. He never missed a game and I can still hear him critiquing the game and making me better.”

Brothers Bonding

After a stellar 1,000 point career at LaSalle Academy, Michael played college basketball at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, only to transfer to Salva Regina in Newport, in order “to be closer to my family and watch my brothers grow up,” he explains humbly. Brian remembers his brother’s act differently, a reflection of unselfishness: “He gave up a college scholarship for me,” Brian tells, “he transferred just to see me play.” Basketball fostered a bridge between the brothers, and has never loosened.

Now, the distance between the McParlins is a simple commute - the coach lives in Pawtucket and the player in Providence – but basketball ties the two ever closer together. As siblings, it dominates their conversation off the court, then crosses-over into their developing relationship between the lines, player to coach. Since November, Brian and Michael’s bond has grown by virtue of the hardwood, and has taken on a new dimension. Lately, Michael has embodied his father’s role, and embraced Joe’s playbook as a father: “I have to balance and play the role of three important people in a young man’s life: big-brother, coach and a father- figure. I try to use basketball to teach Brian life lessons that will make him successful in the future just like my father did with me.”

Joe’s passion for basketball became a family calling, and according to Michael, that love will never change: “Basketball was and is a way of life in our household.” It started with Joe, but lives on in the McParlin family.