Pulling away from negative influences

Though reeling from his mother’s death from cancer on May 6, Andre St. Vistal, 20, is beginning to pick up the pieces of his life by playing basketball, looking to attend college and thinking of operating his own business one day.

A member of the Inwood-based Hard Knox group for nearly a year, St. Vistal has begun to pull away from the negative influences of his neighborhood in Far Rockaway and has demonstrated an ability to be a leader as one of the team’s captains.

“When I was growing up, I was around a lot of negativity,” St. Vistal said. “People, violence and bad influences, the smoking, the drinking.”

With the influences being more positive, including playing ball with longtime friend Ahmad Shamseldin, who St. Vistal has known since he was 12, he is taking life more seriously, especially understanding the necessity of passing the last Regents he needs to complete his high school degree requirement. St. Vistal, a student at the Frederick Douglas Academy in the Far Rockaway High School building, is scheduled to take the test on June 19. He came up short on the exam in January.

St. Vistal, like many Hard Knox members, credits Inwood resident Nicole D’Iorio, who runs the group, with not only having a basketball team they can call their own, but believing in them and teaching the young men (13-to early 20s) manners. “I thought about it, but I didn’t do it,” St. Vistal said, about the etiquette, like pulling out a chair for a woman. “From the start me and Coach Nicole we had the best relationship. She’s humble and you have got to go to church on Sundays.”

Guiding the boys to be better people is a significant tenet of the Hard Knox group. Directing them to do well in school and thinking of college as a realistic goal is another. “Dre is leading by example, he is the first to arrive and the last to leave,” D’Iorio said.

Another example for both St. Vistal and the other Hard Knox members is the success of Shamseldin. Though he took a circuitous route after graduating from Lawrence High School last year and spending a year at Christian Life Center, a prep school in Houston, Texas, he earned a college basketball scholarship to Lewis and Clark College Community College in Godfrey, Ill. “Hard Knox helped me a lot,” Shamseldin said. “It helped me deal with different people, different attitudes.

Averaging 14 points per game and 5 assists, Shamseldin traveled throughout the country and even to Alaska playing ball for the Christian Life Center Cougars. In August, he will head to Illinois and play for the Trailblazers coached by Deon Thomas, a former NBA player who also played basketball in Europe. “I like the situation they had over there,” said Shamseldin, who added he will major in athletic training.

Another Hard Knox member, Tysean Parker, is headed to Tompkins-Cortland Community College in upstate Dryden. St. Vistal sees the success others are beginning to have and wants that for himself. “I have a lot of options, schools,” said St. Vistal, who is thinking of majoring in business management and one day owning an Italian restaurant. “With my mom passing away, I am thinking about getting away from New York. My mom wanted me to go away. I will do the best I can.”