eternal classic

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Writing in Verse Helps Redick Cope

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By John Eligon

March 25, 2007

When J. J. Redick, a guard for the Orlando Magic, was in eighth grade, he used an outlet that he learned from his favorite teacher, Terri Steffen, to cope with the death of his maternal grandfather. That outlet was poetry.

“I’m very close to my mom and I didn’t know how to deal with it, so to just get through that period I just started writing poetry about that situation,” Redick said.

Since that time Redick has relied on poetry throughout his life. There is not always a rhyme or reason for his urges to write. The desire comes mostly at random moments.

When he writes, Redick puts on his headphones and finds a quiet place. In college, he wrote a few times a week. Now, he said, he writes about once a week.

He does not write specifically about basketball, but the sport is reflected in a lot of what he writes.

“Really, it’s about life,” Redick said. “Anybody my age goes through a lot of changes. I went through a lot in college and I’m going through a lot as a rookie in the N.B.A. So, I write a lot about changes that I experience.”

Writing has helped Redick channel some of his experiences.

“I learned in college that it’s a way for me to get a grasp of what’s going on in my life,” he said. “And when I go back a week later, two weeks later and read what I’ve written, I understand where I’m at at that point.”

Perhaps the most well-known poet in the N.B.A. is Wizards center Etan Thomas.

Redick is not necessarily that open with his poetry. He sometimes shared it with Shavlik Randolph, his former teammate at Duke who now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers. But he does not regularly share it with anyone in the N.B.A. and mostly shows his poetry to family members. He did a reading once for television, but has not done any other public readings.

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Still, Redick might someday become more public with his poetry.

“Anybody that likes to write, their dream is to be published,” he said. “I’d like to be published someday. I love the written word. It would be a really good thing.”

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I like to play basketball

It makes me happy

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