Talks soft , plays loud
[ RECREATION ]
ANDREW WIGGINS
Talks soft , plays loud
BY DARIO PASSARELLI
Andrew Wiggins is a special basketball player who at times may be misunderstood by our neighbours to the south . The 2015 NBA Rookie of the Year has been under the scrutiny of the public eye from such a young age and at times has had to face harsh , unfair criticisms . Wiggins hasn ’ t become bitter , vociferous or demonstrative as Americans would expect him to be . Instead , he does what he has always done , what he started doing back in his early high school days at Vaughan Secondary School . Wiggins lets his actions speak for themselves . Former Vaughan Voyageur teammate Henry Tan said in an interview in 2014 , “ He was cool and humble and friendly off the court , but on the court he just let his game talk .” And when his game spoke , it was deafening .
Rewind back to just before halftime at the 2011 OFSSA Basketball Championships . It was a close game with Vaughan Secondary School barely leading . The gym started to fill with chants of “ over-rated ” and everyone knew exactly who it was directed at . At half-time , Wiggins could have yelled at himself and his teammates to play better as Kobe Bryant would do . He could have trash talked his opponents like Michael Jordan used to do . That is what ’ s expected of today ’ s superstars , of today ’ s leaders . They have to pound their chests , yell and scream out their own greatness . Wiggins is not built like that ; he didn ’ t grow up arrogant despite having plenty of reason to do so . How many kids can say that their dad ( Mitchell Wiggins ) played in the NBA ? How many kids can say their mom ( Marita Payne-Wiggins ) is a two-time Olympic silver medalist ? How many kids are walking distance from a park ( Marita Payne Park ) that was named after their mom ? Despite having been gifted with such blessed athleticism , Andrew Wiggins grew up soft-spoken and humble . He grew up , Canadian .
He was cool and humble and friendly off the court , but on the court he just let his game talk .”
- Henry Tan
There are a significant number of people in the American sports world that define humble as being soft , lackadaisical or uncompetitive . They don ’ t understand that nothing could be farther from the truth . Wiggins could not help but hear those chants in that championship game and proceeded to score 12 points in the third quarter . He finished with 25 points and 13 boards and led his team to the championship . So much for Wiggins being soft . In 2013 , while attending Huntington Prep High School in West Virginia , an article in Sports Illustrated was released and amongst a few other things , questioned his competitive spirit . He proceeded to tweet out , “ Don ’ t believe everything you hear , don ’ t believe everything you read .” By the way , that was before dropping 57 points and 13 rebounds on his opponent that night . There goes his game speaking volumes again .
In February of this year , Wiggins returned to his hometown of Vaughan to give back to his community . In partnership with Adidas , the Dufferin Clark Community Centre where he spent many hours playing basketball was given a makeover . The renovated gym is now decorated with Wiggins ’ initials to commemorate his athletic journey and to remind youth that dedication and hard work can pay off .
Maybe it is just some people ’ s nature to be doubters . People doubted he would be the number one overall draft pick . He was . People then doubted he would be the NBA Rookie of the Year . He was . Ever since he started , the Vaughan Voyageur has been able to respond to every criticism and he has done so in his own way , on the court . Wiggins doesn ’ t need to tell anyone how good he is because behind that boyish smile , the charming young man from Vaughan just lets his game do the talking .
110 Celebrate Vaughan / 2016