Tompkins Weekly

Mother, daughter have reason to celebrate



By Keith Raad
 
For mother and daughter, the last 10 years have finally resulted in jubilation. Through a thin curtain of Frank Sinatra’s rendition of “The Way You Look Tonight” at Joe’s Restaurant in Ithaca, Jocelin Wright recently signed her National Letter of Intent to attend Nyack College to continue her basketball career. To her right, Jocelin’s mother, Valerie, sat anxiously at the table surrounded by red and blue balloons. The next day, Valerie would fly to Baltimore to undergo a bilateral nephrectomy.
 
Diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease in 2007, Valerie’s hopes for recovery relied on a kidney donor, but finding a donor match, and the cost, proved to be tough. She began a nine-year battle with a Catch-22. In order for the insurance company to fund donor match testing, Valerie’s kidney function would have to drop under the 20 percent threshold. When the day came that her kidneys dropped to 19 percent functionality, the insurance company went ahead with the testing. Within months, Gary L. Tucker, Valerie’s brother, was found to be a living match.
 
“My brother didn’t even hesitate,” Valerie says. “He was a perfect match on all accounts.”
 
With the surgery scheduled for April 14 at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore, Valerie expressed the feelings of her own situation, and those of her daughter’s. “I just feel a whole bunch of emotions. It’s a relief, it’s amazing. I’m still nervous and anxious but I know it’ll all work out. God has a plan for us,” she says.
 
The bright and well-spoken Jocelin, a member of the 2016 STAC All-Division West All-Stars, signed her name and her future over to Nyack. She played under the tutelage of respected Ithaca High School head coach Faye Young Miller, who died in September, and then current head coach Stephanie Valleta. Wright laced up for the Little Red in a utility role for the team. If Ithaca needed a center, she would play center. If the Little Red needed a point guard, she would play point guard.
 
At the recent celebratory dinner, Valleta read aloud a letter she pens to all of her seniors. Through a strong smile, she recounted two stories that encapsulated Jocelin’s value to the team. “We went to Corning-Painted Post and Jocelin guarded Olivia LeBaron and held her to four points,” Valleta said.
 
“Jocelin was injured, too. She had just come back from a sprained ankle and she had sprained it again that night and there was never a ‘coach take me out’ or hesitation.”
 
The girls’ basketball coach didn’t hesitate to reveal a second story about Jocelin ruining another coach’s night. “I will never forget your first quarter against Horseheads this year,” Valleta said. “You made Andy Scott call timeout, you made him throw his towel, and you made him switch to a diamond-one defense to try to shut you down. You are a game-changer,” Valleta said.
 
To persevere through trying circumstances with her mother, Jocelin has relied on an off-the-court sixth man: God. When doubts or uncertainties emerged, the Wright family rested in comfort. Even the choice of Nyack College, a Christian and Missionary Alliance educational institution, gave Jocelin a thrill. During the selection process of finding a collegiate home, it was inevitable to find a sign in the search.
 
“When I first heard that it was a Christian school, I’m a Baptist, I thought it might be interesting to get that feel,” Jocelin says. “I think that God has put me in that position to grow closer to Christ because everyone there is a believer of God.”
 
With the support of that sixth man in difficult times, Jocelin strives, as she always has, to seek the next challenge. Her next obstacle is on the basketball court in Rockland County. In signing with an NCAA Division II-level school, Jocelin chose the right situation. In her experience, it’s nice to be regarded as the go-to player, but only if she works for it.
 
“I didn’t want to walk on at one place and become a star,” she says. “I feel that if I was put into difficult situations I often strive. I don’t want to be the weak link on a team. I want to work on my craft and strengthen it every day. With this group of girls there now and the ones that are coming in with me, they definitely have the talent. It will be competitive fighting for playing time.”
 
Under sixth-year head coach Dave Julien, Nyack College finished 7-20 in 2015-16. A Nyack alumnus himself, Julien led Nyack to a 21-win season and first-ever berth in the NCAA Division II National Tournament in 2010. The personal connection and family-like atmosphere drove Jocelin toward her decision. Plus, overlooking the Hudson River is not a bad location to major in business with the potential goal of becoming an athletic director.
 
“The Hudson River was one of the things I loved,” Jocelin says. “I loved how the whole community reminds me of Ithaca in a way because they have the commons area where people just go and walk around. When I walked into the gym and met the girls they were so welcoming. They welcomed me in immediately like I was part of a family. Nyack did that
more than any other school.”
 
Years of success on the court countered by a dark cloud of uncertainty with mom have begun to evaporate.
 
Valerie’s arduous battle took a positive turn in February, when she learned that her brother could donate his kidney. In March, Jocelin made a verbal commitment to Nyack, and in April she signed the papers. The next phase is Baltimore, the surgery for Valerie and a month-long recovery process. Nail biting, anxiety, and some nerves lie ahead. But for the Wright family, they have a sixth man.
 
“I’m not too nervous about the surgery, I think it’s going to be pretty straightforward,” Jocelin says. “I have faith in God that it’s all going to be taken care of.”

 

 

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