by By Dan Ninham
High school student-athletes that are grounded in their cultural traditions adapt to situations in an indigenous sense.
Adriano Rama, 16, attends Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, SD. He will be a junior next school year.
“My Lakota name is maǧážu au hokšila meaning the boy who brings the rain,” said Adriano. “My tribe is Ogalala Lakota.”
Adriano received Black Hills honorable mention as a sophomore, and was team captain last year in basketball.
“In the Lakota tradition there are a handful of values I was taught by my mentors and household,” said Adriano.
“My female relatives taught me some of the most important virtues such as patience, gentleness, love and respect,” said Adriano. “These virtues helped my leadership on and off the court. The male mentors in my life taught me just as important virtues such as perseverance, honor, fortitude and humility.”
“These virtues shine through at the end of the game when it comes down to grit, focus and will. Humility comes when you win. I practice these virtues every day on and off the court and believe they are just as important as physical skill development,” added Adriano.
“My dad Matthew Rama and my coach Christian McGhee played D2 basketball, and my older brother is currently playing D2 basketball,” said Adriano.
“I play basketball at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology,” said Alejandro Rama. “I will be a sophomore again next year with the extra year the NCAA gave us due to COVID.”
“My little brother aspires to be great so naturally, he is a hard worker,” said Alejandro. “I try to support him in his journey by just being as accessible as I could to help him figure out the game.”
“I show him moves I’m working on or suggest things and explain to him how they translate to the game. We go over his film together when we can to see why things worked or didn’t work. I send him videos on social media that I see of different players playing so that he could see the detail in the game which is what it comes down to at the next level. We also play 1-on-1 whenever we could to give him a real challenge to try to figure out,” added Alejandro.
“We are pretty competitive with one another, but extremely close,” said Alejandro. “I’m confident he will be successful and am excited to witness it.”
“As an athlete my number one goal is to be a positive role model to the youth,” said Adriano. “Basketball has been a positive outlet for me and a potential ticket to college. My other goal is to get to college with a scholarship to play basketball at the next level.”
“To reach this goal I’ve put in countless hours and repetitions and I will continue to do so with strategic planning and training,” added Adriano.
“Also it is important to do well in the classroom,” said Adriano.
“I attend summer AAU tournaments with the hope of catching the eye of a college coach and to play bigger and stronger competition,” said Adriano.
“I have countless mentors who have guided me and helped me,” said Adriano.
“My dad is someone I look to for advice and help,” said Adriano. “He is a coach at Red Cloud and has coached at all the levels of basketball. He is knowledgeable in the game of basketball but more importantly in the game of life.”
“My other mentor is my coach Christian McGhee who played at Red Cloud for my dad and led his team to state,” said Adriano. “He is always there to open the gym for me and teach me more and more about the game and how to be a leader and point guard.”
“Adriano is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen let alone coached,” said Christian McGhee, head boys’ basketball coach at Red Cloud HS. “He is in the gym every morning, and sometimes twice, at 5 am and then again at 8 am as well as practices and workouts in the evening.”
“He is very self-driven and motivated. He wants to be known as a great basketball player, but what I think separates him is, he wants to be known as a great person,” added Christian.
“Adriano is a very positive role model for the youth in our community,” said Christian. “He has terrific grades in the classroom, and he volunteers at our youth basketball practices as a coach. He is a great person for the kids in our community to see and try to be like him.”
“He is a very good basketball player,” said Christian. “He can shoot the ball, as well as pull up midrange and finish at the rim. It’s rare in high school kids can score at all three levels but he has that ability.”
“He is a very good defender and has been asked to guard other team’s best players and he does it extremely hard and very well any given game,” added Christian.
“He is a very good leader for our team and our success will rely heavily on his leadership,” said Christian.
“Basketball has been my light at the end of the tunnel, my hope,” said Adriano. “It keeps me focused on my physical and mental health and keeps me from falling into negative habits and encourages me to share the game with the youth,” said Adriano.
“Although basketball is important, my dad has always told me basketball mirrors your life,” said Adriano. “In the sense you are lazy in life you will be lazy in the game or if you fail the little habits in life like making your bed you will fail the little habits in the game like boxing out.”
Photo Credit: Marcus Fast Wolf
