It's gettin cold in Bmore...
What's good YB family? I hope everyone's had a good couple day's since we last caught up. I know my past 2 weeks or so have been absolutely crazy. I'll give a quick recap. I was in Southern California for about 9 day's doing some work for STX. I had a few clinics with Southswell (a lacrosse specialty store in SoCal), as well as a few personal things to take care of. My boy Joey Walters (Played at MD, plays for Rochester/USA) came out for a few days, so it was good to kick it with him for a little while. Its beautiful there man. It was definitely incredible to be able to do an event or clinic, and then go relax by the beach for an hour or two. I did a little house hunting while I was there as well (moving in February). I flew up to San Fran for a day (which I mentioned in my last blog) to do some work for Lacrosse For Life (www.lacrosseforlife.com), which is a foundation that I sit on the board of. Lacrosse for life is focused on giving underprivileged kids opportunities, a place to come and do work, and to teach them the great game of lacrosse. Honestly, I absolutely LOVE spending time with the kids, I think it's as important for me to be around them and learn from them as it is for them to be around me. I'm excited for when I move out west and I'm able to get up there a few times a month. When I arrived, we had some pizza, salad, and I just got to relax and catch up with them. It was a little over a year and a half since I'd seen a lot of them. We'd kept in touch through e-mail and myspace, but it was nice being able to sit face to face. After eating, it was time to play some basketball! My favorite part of being around these kids is that they rag on me worse then my own friends do! It reminds me of being at home with my sister Kia when we were younger. The first thing Dionte said to me when I saw him was "You stole my move that I got you with last year and used it in the All-Star game when you scored that goal (which I kind of did)." "I still do it better then you," was the next comment out of his mouth. "Yo! Kyle! You can almost grow a mustache (other then my chin and above my lip, I got no facial hair game going)." From my jeans, to my shoes, to my skinny frame, at some point, it was all covered, and it was awesome. One of my favorite parts of the whole basketball game was the kid they refer to as "white boy." The majority of the kids I've seen have been Black or Hispanic, and so they refer to the sole White kid as "white boy." They mean absolutely NO harm by it at all, in fact, he embraces it. He has so much personality and is a great little athlete. He gets along great with everybody and his jumper wasn't half bad either. I was extremely impressed with Brian, a kid who seemed like he's got a lot going on upstairs. He looks at things in a way most kids his age wouldn't think of. I was able to sit inside and talk with him for a few minutes while the rest of the kids were outside playing still. He'll be great at something one day; I'm interested to see what it's going to be. There's a kid Keith who reminded me of myself as a little guy, just super competitive, constantly wanting to play something. He was diving all over the place on the black top trying to keep the ball alive! He's extremely athletic and has got a pretty serious handle with the rock. He put a cross over on one kid and had him tripping into the fences. At the beginning of the evening, as we sat inside eating, I watched the kids all interacting with each other. They constantly make fun of each other, but what I noticed even more is that these kids all care deeply for one another. They look out for each other, and it's incredible to watch. After about 9 hours in San Fran, it was off to Dallas for a few clinics. I went to a Highland Park high school football game and there were about 8,500 people there! It was crazy! I've never seen high school football like that before. I actually got to kick it with a few of the kids from the Highland Park lacrosse team in the stands for a minute and they were all good kids. They actually helped me out a bunch at my clinic the following morning. I made sure to take all those guys to Chipotle that evening to spend some time with them and show them my appreciation for helping me out. It's a lot to ask 12 high school kids to give up a Friday night, and be up early on Saturday morning to do a clinic all afternoon. Then it was off to Austin for the final two days of my road trip! I worked with another retailer there to get a few more clinics going, and showed my equipment line to a bunch of kids. It was definitely one of the longest road trips I've had in a minute, but it was a successful one with out a doubt. Anything new happen with any of you guys? I hope EVERYONE had a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I know mine was incredible. My next blog will be about Thanksgiving at the Harrion's house, I've got some pretty good stories. From extremely pointless arguments, to random people showing up giving a bit too much information about there stomach issues? Sorry for the delay in posting for a few days, when I was on the road, any free minute I had was spent in the gym, or sleeping, so I apologize! I'll do better next time I promise! Here's a picture from one of my shooting demo's?trying to get my Vince Carter on! (stick between the legs..) Stay up. KH
- TAGS:
- Lacrosse
- NBA
- NBA
- Vince Carter
lax4life said November 23, 2007
j_pez15 said December 28, 2007
first of all, I'm new to this yardbarkers stuff and it literally blowed my mind that people like me can easily talk to you through it. well anyway, when you were in austin, was that when you went to south swell sports down in bee cave? If so i heard that you were going to be there but it was kind of last minute and i live a good distance away from there. Hope to see you next time you come down here.