Heat coach Erik Spoelstra pauses to react to shootings in Uvalde, reflect on Parkland
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra preempted his initial pregame comments ahead of Wednesday night’s NBA playoff game against the Boston Celtics to reflect on Tuesday’s school shootings in Uvalde, Texas.
“Before I start,” Spoelstra said from the interview podium, “I would like to just say something. Obviously, it was just tragic news yesterday. I left shootaround the other day, and it was before Game 1, I went straight to school to pick up my boys. My wife used to be a junior high teacher. We’re just devastated by the news.
“I can’t even imagine what that community and the families are feeling in that kind of scenario, going to school and seeing all the police cars and everything.
“I think there’s certainly – after continued events, there’s a call to action. I think everybody is trying to figure out a way to be heard, to force some kind of change from the people that can make change. I just really feel for all the families.”
Spoelstra then was asked to reflect on the chilling reality of the shootings coming just over four years after the school horrors in Parkland, and how he deals with it as a parent.
“Compartmentalize. It is tough. It’s very tough,” he said. “My wife and I had kind of a tough afternoon reflecting on it last night for those very reasons, and it does feel like just yesterday that we were going up there and spending time in that community, and just the shock that it was happening, so real in our neighborhood really, in our community. But it just continues to happen.
“I know everybody is saying that there needs to be a call to action, and I think what this is forcing people to do is just to figure it out, including myself. We don’t have the answers, but we want to be heard to be able to force change to the people that can actually make the change.”
