The Brooklyn Nets clinic at the Miccio Community Center that was originally scheduled for Tuesday, June 19, then rescheduled for Thursday of that week, but in the end, no actual players ever showed up. To make up for rescheduling the clinic, the Nets gave all the kids free tickets to a game next season.
All of the kids cheered and were very excited when they heard this news.
This is part of the Nets’ effort to connect with the community. Trequan Bekka, the program director of the Miccio Center, said that the Brooklyn Nets Youth Academy has often done drills with the kids the last few years.
Mike Buffalo, who is a coach for the Brooklyn Nets Basketball Academy, was in charge of leading the kids through various drills during the clinic. He said that they were going to be going to eight different community centers in Brooklyn to conduct clinics during the month of June.
Mike Wisniewski, senior manager of community relations, also came to the Miccio. There were 20 kids from the Miccio that took part in drills that went from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m.
“We will probably come back in August,” Wisniewski said. “We are going to work it out with everyone at the Miccio. We try to come every so often, maybe twice a year. We are always all throughout Brooklyn, there is a lot of exploring to do in the area.”
They often have at least two Nets players come to the clinics but since it is now the off-season they didn’t come this time.
“Once the season starts, September is training camp, so that is when the players are back in town, so then we get them really active in the community,” Wisniewski said.
According to Wisniewski, the Youth Academy go out into the community to do these basketball clinics for kids who might not have the opportunity to experience them and who might not have the ability to afford to pay for this.
The kids were all in the fourth or fifth grades and ranged greatly in size.
In the beginning, the kids warmed up under the guidance of Buffalo. They did running drills and then did lay up and jump shooting drills, with cones as a guide. All the kids got a Brooklyn Nets Basketball Academy T-shirt and a Nets water bottle. They had a few water breaks during the clinic where they got to use their new bottles.
After warmups, the kids broke into four teams of five to scrimmage, for a few games of six minutes. They started by playing two games and then the two winning teams matched up against each other. Buffalo refereed, and prevented the scrimmages from getting too out of hand.
After the fourth scrimmage, the kids did right-handed dribble, crossover and through the legs drills going from one side of the court to the other.
Many of the kids had to leave around the time the dribbling drills were finished, which left eight remaining to play two games of knockout that started about 7:25 pm. They were excited to play this game, which leaves one winner at the end.
To end the action-packed clinic, Buffalo had the remaining eight kids play two final scrimmages against each other.
The Nets have also been focusing on doing basketball court renovations in the area to positively change the community. They recently renovated the Nicholas Heyward Courts in Gowanus. Hayward was a 13-year-old who was slain by a housing police officer and often played at those courts.
D’Angelo Russell and DeMarre Carroll were two of the Nets who came to this ribbon cutting.
“We are excited about that and we want to continue doing the court renovations in the area, so just helping the community that way,” Wisniewski said. “This is what we are here for, to give back.”
The Youth Academy has 36 clinics planned this summer throughout Brooklyn. On the renovation side, they will continue to do more and try to have an impact on the borough that way.
“There are a lot of courts that need help, we can’t do them all, but we will do some and hopefully that makes a big difference in the community,” Wisniewski added. “The goal is to keep pushing and change the lives of people that are underprivileged or might not have the opportunity to experience things like this.”
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