'Good for your soul': Basketball coach uses comedy to help families heal

When Colter Simmonds,41, walks into Dartmouth High, it's not long before teens come up with smiles of surprise and warm hugs.It'sthe same reception at other schools around Halifax.

For the last 20 years, the North Preston, N.S., native nicknamed C.C.,short for Coach Colterhas been earning respect and receiving affection as amentor to hundreds of childrenin both sports andschool.

His coaching in basketball and life is aimed at keeping them off the streets where beefs are sometimes settled with guns, leaving lives violently cut short,and others locked up.

What those teensmightnot realize is those realities were"close calls" Simmondshimself escaped.

"For me to be here, I think I'm an example that you can change and do better," he said during an interview last week at the North Preston Community Centre.

'It takes your mind off things'

In recent days he's been visiting withschool principals, church pastorsand bereaved parents his special guests atLaugh Out Violence, the fundraiser he's organized Feb. 22at Casino Nova Scotia, during African Heritage Month.

Simmonds's goal is a sold-out eveningto raise funds for WeWill Win Youth Association, thenon-profit organization he startedin 1999 to helpchildrenpursue their dreams on the court, in the classroomorin the community.

Comedy, he said, is"healing, it takes your mind off things, it's good for your soul."

Leaders in the black community carry anadded emotional burden, he said. They may know both sides in a dispute that's turned deadly a situation he's found himself in after mentoring so manykids.

Karen Hudson, principal at Auburn Drive High School, said that's almost inevitable in a small province with many large, extended African-Nova Scotian families.

"You've got to show compassion and show them that you care. Andas a black female, you never take off that skin, so you have to let them know that some of the individuals that are within the community, they may affect you too," she said.

The night of comedyis no joke for Simmonds. He's spent nearly$8,000of his own money to bookthe roomand the headliners Mark Walker, from Truro, N.S., and Cedric Newmanand Chris Quigley, both from the Toronto area.

The eventhas no corporate sponsors, although the casino is offering the showroom ata reduced rate.

WeWill Win Youth Associationhas taken kids totournaments around North America, and helped developNCAAwingDaneesha Provo and NBA G-League guardLindell Wigginton.

Simmonds spent his teens in Toronto where he was anall-star point guard with enough talent to make it to the NCAA or Canadian university basketball, he said. Butsome "influences" tried topullhim in the other direction, and ultimatelyhis attitude blocked him fromreachingcollege ball.

Even when he didn't believe in himself, his supportersnever gave up on him, telling him, "You can do better."

That message eventually sunkin,and stayed with him ashe became a father at 21, a baptizedChristian, acollege graduateand now a youth programming co-ordinator.

His belief that "the more you do for others, the more God is going to bless you" guides him as he pays it forward with the fundraiser.

Simmondsestimates he's known 40 people who've died violently or gone to prisonbecause of it. It drives him to keep connecting with young people, especially those at risk, to showthem that turning away from violence creates another path.

"You do what you're exposed to," he said. "If you're exposed to negativity, then that's what you're going to get. If you're exposed to positivity, then there's thelikelihood of living a positive life."

He hopes bereaved parentsof children he's mentored will attend the evening of entertainment to know "their child hasn't been forgotten."

The first Laugh Out Violence fundraiser was held in 2017, after Halifax marked 12 homicides in 2016, includingthree shooting deaths in sevendays.

Tyler Richards, 29, was among the young men killed.It was a terrible blow to Simmonds.

Richards first reached out to Simmonds in 2003to play for a team he was coaching in Toronto.Their paths crossed again the following yearwhen Richards was trying out forCanada's basketball team, and also in 2013when Richards made the NBL's Halifax Rainmen, briefly coached by Simmonds.

"Gone too soon, and to know he was somebody that was really wanting to do better inlife," Simmonds said.

R&B, gospelandhip hopmusicians, along witha dancer all who have been mentored by Simmonds will take the stage at the fundraiser. He saidthis opportunityfulfilsa promise to them.

Spoken-wordartist Michael Earle, known as MAJE,will perform his songSmile, which features positive lyrics and a music video that showsblack fathers and their daughters.

Earle didn't knowSimmonds's back story until he shared it last week,but"I always knew he had a big heart."

"Like C.C. said, his kid is the reason he changed, so being in your kid's life can do miracles for you as a human."

Simmonds's son, Tyrell, was born when he was barely out of his teens.

"I want him to have me there with him all the way through his life until he's old enough to have his own kids and understand that when I go, it's because it's time, I'm old."

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