Wolves Dedicate Court in St. Paul

One professional athlete was able to thrill 150 kids on Tuesday afternoon.

The Minnesota Timberwolves dedicated and officially opened the newly renovated basketball court on Hamline Ave. in St. Paul, a stop on their 12-day See What They Can Do Tour. Wolves Forward Mark Madsen was on hand at Hamcock Elementary School to answer several questions from the youngsters and afterwards, put on a clinic.

On hand was St. Paul Parks and Recreation Director Bob Bierscheid, who urged the students to take advantage of the new park.

“For those of you that have never been to Hamline Park, you know that the basketball court really needed a facelift,” Bierscheid said. “We needed to make it better. People are going to see it now and see new standards, a new court and the Timberwolves’ logo. And that’s there for you to play. The Timberwolves want to make sure that you get out and play and exercise.”

Madsen then addressed the students about life and basketball, and on more than one occasion, the size of his feet (18), his height (6’ 8”) and his age (31).

“Drink lots of milk, eat lost of protein,” said Madsen in response to a question asked about how he managed to get “so tall.” “And, genetics sometimes can play a role too.”

The Wolves’ forward also reflected on what it takes to succeed, in basketball and in life.

“If you do well in school, it will open up all kinds of opportunities and scholarships for you,” he said. “For your life, for your family’s life, it will be so positive. “

Most of the kids agreed that it would be very difficult to play a perfect game of basketball.

“At the professional level, you can play close to a perfect game,” Madsen said. “ But there will always be moments when you can do better. Sometimes in a basketball game you might throw the ball out of bounds or shoot an air ball. Just like in life, everyone messes up and makes mistakes. The second piece of advice is that we learn from our mistakes.”

Madsen then organized a mini-clinic, emphasizing areas of reflexes, balance and accuracy. During the balance drill, one student won a Timberwolves t-shirt for his ability to knock the 6’ 8”, 250 lb. Madsen out of his defensive stance.

While Bierscheid, Madsen and the Timberwolves certainly support the effort to bring a newly-developed place to play to inner-city youth, Charity McCoy, a newly elected board member on the State of Minnesota Council on Black Minnesotans, spearheaded the project.

“The Timberwolves helped us to beautify our park and community,” Bierscheid said. “It is just so wonderful. The Timberwolves taking this initiative on, being vested in the community, it has made the world of difference to this project. We could not have done it without their support.”