University of North Carolina Athletics
Heels In Hawaii: UNC Visits Pearl Harbor
November 26, 2014 | Women's Basketball
HONOLULU, Hawaii – Tuesday morning, the UNC women's basketball team kept its focus on basketball: the Tar Heels watched film in a hotel meeting room then practiced in an auxiliary gym at the University of Hawaii in preparation for the Rainbow Wahine Showdown games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
But even as practice was winding down, head coach Sylvia Hatchell gave her team a heads-up that focus was about to shift. The team was scheduled for a trip to Pearl Harbor in the afternoon, and as Hatchell's players huddled around her she reminded them, “Freedom isn't free.”
The Tar Heels spent the afternoon learning about the price that many have paid for freedom as players, staff, families and friends visited Pearl Harbor and the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. The team toured the grounds, watched a video about the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, and then took a boat to the USS Arizona Memorial. More than 1,000 crew members died when the Arizona sank that morning, and Hatchell reminded her players that many of those who died were between 18-22 years old.
“Just like you,” she told the team. “This a memorial to young men who paid a price for what you have.”
“We knew about Pearl Harbor, but maybe not all of the details,” sophomore forward Hillary Fuller said. “So it was really interesting to learn about what happened and why. It was inspiring, and it helps remind us why we're free.”
Hillary Summers, also a sophomore forward, knows first-hand about the sacrifices military members and their families make. Her father, Garland Summers, served in the Army and retired as a sergeant first class. “Every time I go somewhere like this I think of him” she said. “He's told me stories about his service and I think it's really great the way these soldiers are being honored here.”
Mamie Summers, Hillary's mother, is also along on the Hawaii trip and visited Pearl Harbor with the team on Tuesday. “This was so interesting,” she said. “I cannot wait to get home and talk to my husband about it.”
And as a parent, she valued both the content of Tuesday's visit and the idea behind it, the fact that even though the Tar Heels are here for a basketball tournament, they're learning much more important lessons.
“I appreciate Coach Hatchel so much, because there's so much more to what the team does than just being on the court,” Summers said. “Our kids are learning so much – wherever we go, (the coaches) always include something they can learn from and take with them when they leave. If they're not learning something from this, it's because they didn't want to. It's been great.”
