Motto “Ubuntu” sparks historic season for George Mason
FAIRFAX, Va. (DC News Now) — The word “Ubuntu” may not be a word in your vocabulary, but for George Mason women’s basketball, it’s the team motto.
“I feel like Ubuntu, we are like a unit,” said George Mason senior guard Sonia Smith. “Just always be there for them.”
“It’s more of a, everybody can do what they can for each other,” said junior guard Ta’Viyanna Habib.
“Just being a team no matter what,” said sophomore forward Zahirah Walton. “No matter what is happening on the court.”
“Everything we are doing is bigger than ourselves,” said senior guard Taylor Jameson. “We are doing it for one another.”
Ubuntu is an African term meaning “humanity to others.” In other terms, “I am because we are.” It’s a term that longtime NBA head coach Doc Rivers used the year the Boston Celtics won the 2008 NBA championship.
For the Patriots, it’s been their motto since head coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis walked through the door in 2021.
“That word just stayed with us throughout my coaching career, and then when I got here, I just felt like that was the unity of the word we needed to start growing this program together,” said Blair-Lewis.
A program that had zero Atlantic-10 conference wins in 2020. A program that needed a sense of unity, a sense of Ubuntu, to turn it around.
“We had to do something to unify a program,” said Blair-Lewis. “So, how do you tell these girls that we are going to win? For me, it was like, you got to believe, and sometimes you got to believe in something bigger than what you can see. So, we just asked them to have faith and trust the process, because we have done this before.”
“It builds culture, and our culture is really good here,” said Habib.
“I think it’s very important,” said Jameson. “I feel like any and every team has to have a foundation for when things get rough. I feel like it’s a word that we can go back to and basically come together.”
In just two seasons, George Mason women’s basketball went from being a 10-win team, to being a 20-win team, and contending at the top of the conference.
“I think the expectation has always been there,” said Blair-Lewis. “It takes unselfishness. In the climate of world that we are in, with collective and players getting money. Everyone is kind of looking for that bag, and for us, we recruit chemistry.”
A historical season for the Patriots, using their motto “Ubuntu” and instilling it into their play on the court and in their every day lives.
“I think it’s very special to know that it doesn’t stop at the starters,” said Walton. “It goes all throughout the bench. We all have something to bring to this team no matter what. We all have our different roles, but together, it’s unstoppable.”
“When you have teammates that you actually do have their back, you actually do want to play for each other, you get out of the selfishness, and play selflessly and for each other whether you are having a bad day,” said Smith. “You still want to play hard.”
“We have so many denominations on our team and ethnicities, and you just watch them vibe together,” said Blair-Lewis. “This is the melting pot of the world. I just really enjoy coaching this bunch of ladies. They are the spirit of Ubuntu.”
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