Lehigh University Athletics
Taylor, Tiah meet with middle schoolers
9/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Bethlehem, PA – First year Lehigh head men’s basketball coach Billy Taylor took time out Tuesday to meet with youngsters at Bethlehem’s Broughal Middle School. Taylor was joined by junior Ra Tiah and spoke about respect, a topic that the school is focusing on all year long. Taylor discussed growing up in Aurora, Illinois and his childhood leading up to college. He also spoke of how his parents told him that he would have one of three choices if he wanted to attend school. "My father told me that if I wanted to go to college I would have to either earn an academic scholarship, an athletic scholarship, or work and pay my own way through college," said Taylor. "I wanted to go to college, so I set goals, worked hard, and attained an athletic scholarship to Notre Dame. I had also been offered an academic scholarship to attend Illinois, but I was already enrolled at Notre Dame and that was where I was going to stay." Coach Taylor attempted to stress the importance of setting goals at a young age and earning respect. Taylor pushed four steps of importance to the students, citing that these same steps were steps he used when was growing up. "Step one is setting the actual goal. The second step is to have a plan. Ask yourself how you are going to reach your goal. Step three, work hard, is the toughest step. This is when you execute your plan and strive for success. The final step, step four, is the review of your performance. You can use these four steps as a guideline for the rest of your life," added Taylor. Following his speech, Taylor’s audience intently viewed a 2001-2002 highlight video, then participated in a question and answer session. Along with the question and answer session, select students were allowed to participate in a ball handling drill with Tiah. Tiah showed off his cross-over dribbling skills along with his ability to rapidly dribble the ball between his legs. "I thought this was a great chance to interact with the kids at Broughal," said coach Taylor. "It was no doubt a positive experience. It was educational, but fun as well. I hope that we reached at least one kid today." For more information, contact
