The second day of Basketball without Borders Europe in Moscow began with Danny Green (San Antonio Spurs) and MarShon Brooks (Brooklyn Nets) gathering the campers for a Life Skills seminar. The theme was focused around leadership. The two NBA players highlighted trust, communication and reliability as key attributes of a leader. They brought these lessons to life with a blindfold trust exercise, involving one player wearing a blindfold and tasked with navigating a small obstacle course, while his teammate directed him. It demonstrated the importance of good listening skills and trusting one’s teammates, with a lot of laughter thrown in. Danny shared some of his insight into becoming a professional athlete, impressing on the young basketball players that coaches and personnel at the professional level do take note of players’ off-the-court attitudes and habits, saying “It’s important to carry yourself as a professional at all times.”
The morning continued with skills stations focused on shooting, moves off the dribble, and individual defense, each aimed at building up the campers’ fundamental skills. NBA players Alexey Shved, Andrei Kirilenko, Brian Cardinal, Danny Green, MarShon Brooks and Timofey Mozgov all encouraged the campers to work hard, along with the NBA and FIBA coaches and legends.
After lunch the campers headed back to the courts to play team games, each hoping to get one step closer to making the All-Star selection on the last day of camp. Meanwhile, the NBA players and some of the coaching staff made their way to School 59 in Moscow for the NBA FIT Clinic. American and Russian players spent time on the court with more than 60 school children, showing them fun ways to stay healthy and active, with stations like jump roping, relay races, ladders and of course, lay-ups. Basketballs and apparel were also provided to the school through NBA Cares.
This evening the campers were treated to some special NBA videos, games and snacks before getting some rest to be able to play hard on day three.
>> Previous Recaps: Day 1