East Carolina basketball players B.J. Tyson and Andre Washington visited John Cotten Tayloe Elementary School on Monday morning. The Pirate pair came to deliver some advice, inspirational messages and to play with the children.

Tyson, a junior guard for ECU, spoke about his own siblings and how he tries to be a role model for them. He and Washington — a 7-foot-1 transfer from Wake Forest — stressed the importance of not only academics, but also good character and obedience.

“We’re trying to get some role models out here to show them how they should act and how they need to act if they want to achieve their dreams,” said special education teacher Jessica Harrison. “These guys are playing basketball in college. While these kids may not be able to play basketball for college, we just want to give them something to look forward to and something to motivate them to do well.”

Tyson and Washington showed off some of their skills after speaking to the children for a brief period. Both drew rounds of applause every time they took off for a dunk in the school’s gym. Tyson put on a show when he lined up four kids and leapt over all of them for a dunk.

After showing off for a bit, each Pirate squared off against a group of kids. They got all they could handle from the young, local talent. Washington enjoyed the experience because it made him feel like a carefree kid again.

“I had a great time. I always have fun hanging around little kids. Sometimes I feel like I’m a little kid myself at heart,” Washington said. “I just wanted to tell them to take it day-by-day and to go in a good direction in life.”

Despite his massive height advantage, Washington had to resort to blatant goaltending a few times just to stop his smaller opponents from scoring on him.

“I don’t care who it is. I’m not getting scored on,” he laghed.

All in all, it was a fun way for Tyson, Washington and the students to spend the morning.

“A lot of people look up to guys like us,” Tyson said. “We come here and we put a smile on the kids’ faces. … I really think they took away us being here. Not only seeing us on TV, they actually get to meet us. I think that’s a pretty cool thing, to be here in person.”