By Tucker Paquette
@tpaquette17
As Springfield College senior Josiah Evely once again packed his bags to make the trip from Toronto, Ontario to Springfield for the start of this school year, he was struck with a familiar, bittersweet feeling.
Evely, a member of Springfield’s men’s basketball team, said goodbye to his family before making the 468-mile journey to Alden Street, realizing numerous months would pass before he would see them again. While Evely more or less has this routine down pat at this point, he nonetheless was hit by the gravity of the moment.
“The feeling of leaving home and your family still, it’s the same,” Evely said. “I have siblings that I leave behind at home. I don’t want to leave them, but they understand. Every time, it’s emotional because I’m going away for another eight or seven months.”
Interestingly enough, Evely has plenty of experience making similarly tasking treks, dating back to 2020. He wasn’t going to be able to play basketball in Ontario because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so for two years before beginning at Springfield in the fall of 2022, Evely went to school in North Carolina.
Here, Evely also played basketball, and enjoyed the overall experience. He spent two summers in North Carolina, honing his skills as he looked toward playing at the collegiate level. This also gave Evely his first taste of what it was like to be far away from home.
Once Evely’s time in North Carolina was done and he went through the process of looking at colleges, he zeroed in on places where he would be able to continue playing basketball. After speaking with Pride head coach Michael McClendon and getting a chance to spend some time on campus, he had a feeling that Alden Street was the right place for him.
“I talked to McClendon, he gave me the rundown of what we were trying to do, and I came to Springfield,” Evely said. “I liked what Springfield was about, the people, the environment, the whole Springfield energy.”
As Evely settled in at Springfield, he quickly realized he had made the correct choice, as his observations about the tight-knit community and friendly energy on campus proved to be correct. Perhaps more importantly, however, Evely benefited from the almost-built-in friend group he had with his teammates on the basketball team.
For someone who values family and close relationships as much as Evely does, it was quite valuable for him to form these bonds with the people he shares the court with each winter.
“The basketball team, it’s my family now,” Evely said. “You leave home, leave that world behind, so this becomes my world now. It helps having a good group of guys on the team. Hanging with the team, bonding with the guys, practice. Being a part of the team helps make the experience better.”
While Evely has what he considers to be a second family at Springfield, by no means does he take his first one for granted. However, he feels comfort in knowing that his loved ones are behind him as he chases his goals, as much as they miss his large presence back in Ontario.
“Everyone in the family knows what it is,” Evely said. “It still doesn’t make it any easier, but it’s definitely worth it in the long run because this is what I want to do and they’re supporting me to do it. But even this last year, it still hurts the same, leaving them.”
Even though Evely has done more than his fair share of traveling in the past several years, the fact that he always has people to lean on, regardless of where he is, makes everything that much easier. As his time on Alden Street winds down, Evely has come to appreciate the value of being able to call two different places home.
“Springfield feels like its own little community,” Evely said. “The people here are so unique and different. I always think of this quote from the Thor movies, ‘Asgard isn’t a place, it’s a people.’ I think about that as Springfield, the people make the place.”
(Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics)