After a rousing Wednesday afternoon that featured a surprise visit from Thunder players Steven Adams, D.J. Augustin, Enes Kanter and Kyle Singler to lead the activities at the Thunder Fit clinic, presented by Homeland, students at Roosevelt Middle School in Oklahoma City had the opportunity to ask questions.
The first one posed: "What struggles do you have playing basketball?"
The question hung in the air inside the hushed gymnasium as the Thunder quartet stood front and center before a tapestry of blue and white consisting of 60 ebullient students outfitted in Roosevelt Titans jerseys gathered on the aluminum bleachers during a Q&A session.
Soon enough, Adams, Augustin, Kanter and Singler each recounted moments of adversity during their respective basketball journeys and how they overcame them. Each delivered the message of maintaining a positive attitude, relying on work ethic and committing to self-improvement—common traits of the Thunder DNA.
Collectively, the players' responses were simple, yet poignant and served not only as personal anecdotes, but also invaluable advice for the kids in attendance.
Aside from the initial awestruck at the sight of Adams, Augustin, Kanter and Singler, the middle schoolers were ecstatic to take part in a fun-filled agenda with the players that included basketball drills and workouts along with nutrition information and exercises toward developing good habits for life.
"I learned how to stay healthy and how important being healthy is," said Tiya Mitchell, an eighth-grade student at the school.
"Getting to meet them is pretty cool, because over here, we don't really get to do things like that," eight-grader Perla Acosta added. "When we're doing layups, they were smacking the ball and playing around with us."
With fellow teammates on hand, Singler affirmed the value of working with the youth in the community through these clinics to advance a larger purpose.
"We have four guys here and we're taking middle schoolers through drills to get the message through that fitness is important," Singler said.
The chance to develop these seventh and eighth graders was something the players did not take for granted as each headed up designated areas on the court involving a variety of basketball drills and cardio workouts to go with a nutrition station. Indeed, the students have the benefit of youth to establish long-term positive behavior in managing their individual wellness.
"It's always good, especially when you're in a young age and still developing," Adams said. "Got to make sure you get the right stuff in you."
"Right now is the time where they need to learn about nutrition and learn to get out and do healthy things and live a healthy lifestyle," Augustin added.
Watch: Thunder Fit at Roosevelt Middle School
For Roosevelt Athletic Director Johnny Leake, today's Thunder Fit clinic provided an effective education platform for health and fitness and it is up to the students to take advantage of what they learned here.
"I tell my students all the time you either make stupid choices or ignorant choices," Leake said. "Now that they have the information. We can't go back and say 'I didn't know.'"
Leake underscored the Thunder Fit clinic's impact by reminiscing about a time when Russell Westbrook visited the school to conduct the very same drills and exercises wowing the students then. With the larger-than-life presence from Adams, Augustin, Kanter and Singler and their interaction with the kids, he expected his students to absorb the lessons learned today and to look back at their unique experiences here years from now.
"Five years ago, those kids, and they're 18 and 19 years old now, still talk about when Russ dunked on that goal down there asking me if I have pictures from the time the Thunder was out," Leake said. "So it definitely will stick with these kids like it stuck with those kids."
