The 2020 Senior Perspectives is the 15th in a series of annual collections. Senior captains and representatives of teams at Harvard have been invited to contribute viewpoints based on personal experience from both their senior seasons and full varsity careers at Harvard.

Henry Welsh
Hometown: Redondo Beach, Calif.
Concentration: Economics, Statistics 
House Affiliation: Eliot

The evolution that took place around my basketball career at Harvard was truly remarkable.
 
Our team evolved. The Class of 2020 (featuring Bryce Aiken, Robert Baker, Justin Bassey, Chris Lewis, Christian Juzang, Seth Towns, and me) was the highest-ranked recruiting class ever to matriculate to an Ivy League school, according to ESPN.com. Talent often begets talent in college basketball recruiting, and that has certainly been true for us as we have continued to attract top players since.
 
Our competition evolved. The skill level across the Ivy League went from good to great. In just the four years I was at Harvard, the Ivy League has produced quite a few professional basketball players (including one NBA player), and it has sent eleven players to some of the top basketball schools in the country (Duke, Michigan, Arizona, Ohio State, and Seton Hall to name a few) as transfers.
 
Our facility evolved. My sophomore year, we gave Lavietes Pavilion––America's second oldest gym that in a nod to Harvard's history seats 1,636 people at capacity––a facelift. That season, we christened our upgraded gym by winning my first of two career Ivy League championships on our home floor, in front of our friends, classmates, and fans. We hoisted the ancient trophy, and our smiling faces were projected on the new jumbotron as we celebrated on the new hardwood and danced in the new locker room. From then on, our gym was a tangible symbol of the progress our program has made under Coach Amaker, winning seven league championships in the past decade.
 
So how do I fit in to all of this?
 
Well, I evolved, too. When I first stepped on campus (and lost ten pounds vacuuming floors for Dorm Crew), I thought that my experience at Harvard would revolve solely around basketball, that playing time was everything and the only thing. As time went on though, my outlook changed. Ironically, it was my singular focus on becoming a division one basketball player that afforded me this special opportunity to experience the world with a broader perspective, wearing Harvard on my chest both on and off the court.
 
Harvard Basketball took me to China not just to compete against Stanford, but also to be immersed in Chinese culture and religion. It took me to Washington D.C. not just to compete against Howard, but also to tour the Supreme Court and visit with Justice Elena Kagan and former Harvard basketball captain Glenn Fine. It gave me the chance to dine with individuals like Lloyd Blankfein, Dr. Harry Edwards, and Clark Kellogg, like Professor Cornel West, Governor Charlie Baker, and former Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Through both Harvard basketball and life on campus, my eyes were truly opened to the world's diversity of people and ideas, and I discovered passions and interests that I didn't know even existed in the world let alone within me.
 
As for the minutes I once thought delivered self-worth, I played more my freshman year than I did my senior year, when I saw mostly "garbage time" in seven games and scored all of two baskets. As the season went along though, I was able to take pride in the fact that, as co-captain of the team, I played some role in our success beyond what I myself did on the court. I tried my best to lead and unite our team, to mentor the younger players, and to be the best teammate I could possibly be.
 
When I reflect on my time with Harvard basketball, the word that lingers in my mind is gratitude. Gratitude for the opportunity to grow as a player and ultimately a person through difficult moments, celebrating the highs of victory and pushing through the lows of defeat. Gratitude for the fact that a game that I have loved since I was a boy has changed my life.
 
 I never would have imagined that my time at Harvard would unfold the way it did when I first arrived. Heck, on top of all the wonderful things being a part of Harvard basketball has done for me, my senior season was cut short by a global pandemic. But how could I not be grateful for a program that allowed me to be a part of something bigger than myself and that taught me not only how to persevere through challenges, but also to lead through them?
For the countless bus ride laughs and locker-room pranks, for amazing friendships and memories that will last the rest of my life? I am a better person because of Harvard basketball.
 
The day has come (a little early) on which the ball stops bouncing. There are no more big arenas or back-to-backs, no more 17 sprints or 6 am practices. Now, though having evolved over my four years as a student-athlete at Harvard, I am excited to use all the knowledge, perspective, and wisdom that I have gained to––in the words of Coach Amaker––"do well and do good."