They will spend 3 days with NBA players and coaches, including three-time Basketball without Borders Asia camp director Dean Cooper from the Houston Rocket, Denver Nuggets Coach Wayne Chapman, Gary Colson from the Memphis Grizzlies, Clay Moser with 24 years of professional basketball experience, Jim Lynam participating in his third Basketball without Borders camp, and Keith D’Amelio who will be starting as a trainer of the Toronto Raptors this coming season. Together acting as coaches were NBA players Matt Carroll from Charlotte Bobcats, Chicago Bulls and Golden State Warrios Adonal Foyle both participating in their second BWB camp, LA Lakers Guard Sasha Vujacic from Slovenia, Rockets guard Luther Head, NBA legends Vlade Divac and Scottie Pippen, and Shanghai’s own son Houston Rockets All-Star center Yao Ming.
The mission of BWB is to impart not only basketball skills but also develop life skills and leadership of these young campers both on and off the court. This message was reiterated to the 50 campers as they arrived early to be greeted by directors of the camp who provided an orientation and introduction of the camp. Directors enforced the message of focusing on what these young players should strive to achieve on and off the courts.
The first confidence boost came from FIBA World Development Director Zoran Radovic when he told the campers, “you should be proud, you are the future of basketball.” Camp directors gave them enough confidence, but also keeping them grounded with a reminder that “you can only get out of it what you put in.”
“Playing with their hearts and their heads and always with passion” was an inspirational reminder which won cheers and applause from these campers.
Campers met all their coaches for the coming three days and could not wait till the end when they took to the courts eager to show off their skills and the reason they were chosen, best amongst their age group in their home country, showing what it meant to play with passion, with a heart and a head. It was mixed feelings after the first practice, where Shabbi Amir of Syria said “Tough! But I think we are going to be friends for a long time.”
“I think my job is in trouble,” joked Adonal Foyle, a comment on his first impressions of the young players, right before the players took the court for the first practice, “I am excited to see what they can do!”
Falling into their teams, the Bobcats, Bulls, Warriors and Rockets, they were taken through different skills trainings by coaches and players, rotating to each station every 15 minutes.
Matt Carroll and Sasha Vujacic took them through shooting drills, with Scottie Pippen and Adonal Foyle waiting for them to work on their defensive footwork and dribbling. Luther Head and Chris Duhon helped with point guard skills such as dribbling, shooting and lay-ups. All-Star centers of two decades Vlade Divac and Yao Ming took to the last basket and gave the best training a potential NBA center could receive.
“Good stuff! I even found weaknesses I had not thought of,” remarked Arsalan Kazmi, one of the four Iranian campers.
A Clinic to Remember The afternoon was a clinic giving back to the community, bringing in 80 Special Olympics athletes for a fun-filled basketball experience with their NBA heroes. Coaches and players showed their love and support to these children through the obvious commitment in their coaching.
This event presented by DHL made it a day to remember for both children and players, no doubts with their Shanghai hero present, these children were overjoyed, with sixteen year old Special Olympian Zhu Ying said without any hesitation “spending time with Yao Ming.”
“It was really exhilarating. I was looking at everybody in the gym and everybody had a smile on their faces the entire time,” said Denver Nuggets Coach Wayne Chapman “Watching their effort and the way they played and how excited they were made everybody happy.” It really was a clinic to remember!
NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad
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