Bobcats/Sting Day At Myers Park Elementary

Thursday, February 9, was a day to celebrate. It was a day for the students at Myers Park Elementary School to be recognized for all that they had achieved.

To help reward them for their accomplishments, the Charlotte Bobcats and Sting hosted Bobcats/Sting Day at their school.

As part of the celebration, Bobcats players Jumaine Jones, Gerald Wallace, Alan Anderson and Jake Voskuhl, along with Sting players Helen Darling and Janel McCarville and Bobcats mascot Rufus Lynx, dropped by for a visit.

After being assigned to a grade level, each player went from room to room spending a few minutes visiting with the kids. They also took the time to sign autographs.

“The kids were very excited,” said Myers Park Vice-Principal Catherine Phelan. “This is a reinforcement for the kids who are reading on AR (Accelerated Reading) and it also encourages the students who have not started yet.”

In each room, those kids who had achieved their Accelerated Reading goals had their names put into a bag. The players drew out names and those kids received special prizes. Some received T-shirts, while two students from each class were selected to join the players in the gym.

“The kids were awesome,” commented Darling. “I loved them. They had a good time. They came up and read for me. I just had a great time.”

The kids were also given the opportunity to ask questions, the most common being did the Bobcats win on Wednesday night. The Bobcats were happy to report yes, after winning their third game in row over the Philadelphia 76ers.

“I was really excited that the kids knew a lot about the Bobcats game,” remarked Jones. “It’s always good that the kids are excited about the team.”

“We have a lot of enthusiasm from the students because the Bobcats are role models,” commented Phelan.

Following the classroom visits, the lucky students selected from each room gathered in the gym where they had a special prize drawing for pennants and even an autographed Sting team basketball.

“It was about getting to reward the kids who had worked hard in school and had done a good job reading,” explained Voskuhl as he talked about the day. “Just being able to sit here and do something nice for the kids who have worked hard, I’m happy for them.”

The players then put on a demonstration for the students, shooting some jumpers before picking several students to shoot alongside them.

Wallace was all smiles as his partner drained her shot.

“It was great to come out and give back some love to the community,” he said. “It always starts with the kids. The kids are the ones who love you the most. They watch the game. Obviously they wanted to see a dunk, but I can’t do that right now, but it was fun to come out here and hang with them.”

While the day was one of celebration, it also served as a motivator, as the players encouraged the kids to keep up the hard work.

“We just want them to keep doing well in school and keep reading,” said Jones.

“It really gives them something to work towards,” commented McCarville. “It gives them motivation to stay reading and stay positive about it because they get to experience something that the other kids don’t get to receive.”