METCO Coordinator Keith Lezama ’02 played varsity basketball at the high school. During a game against BC High School, he fouled out when the team was down by nine with a minute and a half to go.

“My best friend came up to me and was like, ‘Don’t worry, we got this. We’re gonna come back,’” Lezama said. “And we came back and won by one point against BC High.”

Lezama said playing basketball at the high school was bigger than the sport itself, and playing gave him life skills and shaped him as a young man.

Similarly, Associate Dean Melanee Alexander ‘89, who played volleyball, basketball and ran track at the high school, said sports were a huge part of her high school life, both socially and developmentally.

According to Alexander, playing sports at the high school taught her discipline and about pushing herself physically. She continued to play volleyball at Duke University and eventually became a captain of the team.

“Especially for girls, I think it’s an outlet that leads us to a better understanding, to understand who we are as females,” Alexander said.

During Lezama’s senior year, the basketball team was ranked number one in the state. They lost by three points in the state championship game.

“We had a great team. A great group of players, a great senior group that to this day we still hang out together,” Lezama said. “We were a really deep team.”

Many of his teammates were part of his wedding, and he is also the godfather of a teammate’s eldest daughter.

Alexander said she met most of her high school friends, who are still close to her, through sports at high school.

“That was my group,” she said. “I’m not sure if teams are that close now.”

English teacher Nicholas Rothstein ’86 played soccer, lacrosse and winter track at the high school. Unlike the other teachers, he said he does not have much connection to the teams.

Rothstein said he likes the wide variety of teams to choose from at the high school, but sees a problem with part of the sports culture.

“I think that our sports culture, not just in Brookline but nationally speaking, is that, it’s less about team and more about individually achieving,” Rothstein said. “You can see it when kids are refusing to play on teams and go to clubs. It’s really what ends up being the best opportunity for them. No one is really dying to represent Brookline.”

Associate Dean of Students Lisa Redding ‘89, who swam for four years for the high school, said playing sports gave her a lot of school spirit.

She said that at first she did not want to go to high school in Brookline because all of her friends were going to schools in Cambridge.

“I came to Brookline High not knowing anybody, and girls swimming is a fall sport,” Redding said. “It was great because I just had this instant group that was made of such a diverse group of people. Even though that didn’t end up being my main set of friends, they were always my friends.”

Her senior year, the team won the league championships. At one championship meet, Redding remembers symbolically throwing green water into the other school’s pool, as Brookline’s pool was known for having water that looked green.

 Redding said she still has her Brookline swimming sweatshirt, though it is a little ragged.

“It was great to be part of something else,” Redding said. “It really gave me Brookline spirit.”

The same “Brookline spirit” Redding found through playing sports was a memorable part of Lezama’s basketball career at the high school.

According to Lezama, the basketball team received a lot of fan support. He remembers playing games where students would be standing at the corner of the court because there was no room in the stands.

“I always remember all the teachers coming to our game. I used to always look up in the stands and see Ms. Hayden sitting next to my mom during games,” Lezama said. “The games were always packed. If you came late, you couldn’t find a seat.”

Maya Margolis can be contacted at [email protected]