Molly Keshin
Sports Editor
@mollykCourant
On Tuesday, October 20, the students of NCHS, as well as Saxe Middle School and the community had the opportunity to hear the story of former NBA star Chris Herren. Mr. Herren began his basketball career at Durfee High School in Fall River, MA and continued his career at Boston College and Fresno State, where he was named a McDonald’s All-American athlete. Mr. Herren was then selected in the NBA draft by the Denver Nuggets and later on played a crucial role on the Boston Celtics, as well as several international teams. However, he did not come to New Canaan to talk to students about the life of a professional athlete; he came to enlighten students about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.
The sophomores, juniors, and seniors gathered in the auditorium while freshmen were seated in the cafeteria and Wagner Room in order to hear what Mr. Herren had to share about his struggle with drugs. The
presentation began with a clip from the ESPN 30-for-30 movie about Mr. Herren, Unguarded, where he is shown talking to high school students about his addiction and near-death experiences. The first thing that Mr. Herren told NCHS was that the goal of his speeches have changed since the movie was made four years ago. He no longer wants to explain the process of becoming addicted, or “last day” on drugs, but instead help students to avoid that “first day” using drugs or alcohol.
Mr. Herren shared stories of different experiences with kids that would be at his talks at other schools that changed him more than he said his struggle with addiction ever did. He emphasized the point of “being a pro at being you,” as well as the importance of self esteem because he feels that is what influences kids to turn to drugs. “Playing basketball played a pivotal role in my teenage years because I used drinking and smoking to try to escape the anxiety and pressure that comes with being a high level athlete,” Mr. Herren said. “I felt like I wasn’t myself ever since I began playing, because it was a way to hide and cover it up.”
Throughout his speech, Mr. Herren repeatedly asked the students what made them pick up that first drink and what made them feel as though alcohol and drugs were the only way to feel like themselves. He believes that in order to recognize what they are doing to themselves, they have to realize their own self worth. “We have to approach this by asking the tough questions, because it applies to a lot of kids in their teenage years,” Mr. Herren said. “Why? What is your reason? How come on Friday nights you have to escape the insecurities to hang out with friends you’ve known your whole life?”
Despite the fact that Mr. Herren is travelling across the country to share his experience and advice with
students, he wasn’t always comfortable opening up about his situation. “I was afraid to talk about what was holding me back because I wasn’t ready to show that level of vulnerability,” Mr. Herren said. “Everybody looked at me like I had everything and I had it all figured out, but really deep down, it was hard, and I pretended I was something that I really wasn’t. It’s the same kind of thing for a kid that’s trying to get into Harvard: you work really hard for it and you know that on weekends, you’re going against that and risking it by getting high and drinking.”
Mr. Herren admits that during his basketball career, he became so dependent on drugs that he felt that it was necessary for everything that he did in his life. “You get to a point where you can’t perform unless you’re under the influence because without it your body doesn’t adjust and doesn’t feel good enough to go,” Mr. Herren said. “ I couldn’t play unless I was under the influence of drugs. I had to be high in order to get out there and run.”
As a professional athlete, Mr. Herren knew that people expected him to perform, despite the fact that they didn’t know what he was going through at the time. In the presentation, Mr. Herren emphasized the importance of reaching out for help, because people genuinely cared for him. “I was very good at hiding what I was going through, so I can’t put the blame on everybody for not helping,” Mr. Herren said. “I believe if I was willing to reach out and say, ‘I can’t do this and this is something I’m going through,’ they would have been there for me.”
Although Mr. Herren feels that his basketball career is what made him get into drugs in the first place, he knows that playing sports has taught him important lessons that eventually helped him in his recovery process. “You don’t become a professional basketball player by cruising down easy street,” Mr. Herren said. “It took commitment, hard work, discipline, dedication, and a lot of sacrifice, and I had to apply that in my recovery. I had to be willing to work and dedicate myself to practicing my recovery like I did my professional life.”
Mr. Herren mentioned during the presentation how he would be satisfied if his talk helped just one kid, but he also feels that not everybody has to be an athlete in order to understand what he is trying to say. “Everybody understands and can relate to something that I say, even the kid who walks in and says, ‘I don’t do drugs I don’t have to do this,’ who deserves to be acknowledged for the fact that he doesn’t have to do drugs,” Mr. Herren said. “There are plenty of people who can relate at some level, whether it’s their family or their personal story. I believe at some level they can walk out after that presentation and feel like they were included.”
