World Basketball Festival by Nike – Day 3

Jun
17/10

Written by Coach
Thursday, 17 June 2010

After a very eventful day 2… The next day was to be just as eventful as we were going to do a tour of the 3 locations of where the World Basketball Festival was going to be taken place in August….

Rucker Park
Times Square
Madison Square Garden

This was going to be a legendary experience for me, being such a big basketball fan and player in my time. So getting on the coach and our first stop was the world famous Madison Square Garden. We were given a tour by a very nice young man called Creg (Craig in English!) where he showed us around the arena and told us all about the history, the build, the artists who have played, the events that have taken place and what the future holds of this incredible space.

We went up to the box suites where some very rich people would be sitting to watch events and games… some of them had their own kitchen which was amazing!
For me, the best part of the tour was actually walking on to the NBA COURT (Sorry Creg, Kreg or whatever your name was.. he was not happy to see people on the court when he came back). We all got a few pictures… and although it was the WNBA paint on the court… I still felt privallaged to know that I was standing on the same court that Jordan, Ewing, Bird, Magic and sooo many others have played on… just too bad I didnt have a ball to shoot… Pause!

Then the locker room of the Knicks was pretty boring… and very cheap looking in my opinion for what this team is supposed to be.

Moved out of there quickly as I wanted to get back to the court to take more pics… but we were whisked upstairs to watch a video… I hate saying this, but I was actually falling asleep for a split second until in true American style… A New York Knicks cheerleader comes running out of know where! And yes that woke me up! She spoke about something and then she asked me to take a picture with her! (Pause!) I couldnt think of a better way to end the tour!

But then we were taken downstairs to the entrance where we were given an exclusive view of how the NEW Madison Square Garden is going to look… Or was it just a room to show people how it COULD look if Lebron decides to go to the Knicks?? (Oh we were banned from saying his name in the Arena!!)

The next step was going for lunch in Times Square where we were told exactly where the court would be set in August… Just imagining that was incredible so what would actually be like to witness… We were told that there will be one of the worlds biggest musical artists performing on that day… Hmmm… I wonder who that could be?? New York, Basketball… Hip Hop artist maybe??? I honestly dont know… but I would imagine the “Biggest music artist in the world” would be someone quite special…

So after lunch, we were told to go to a secret room… to collect our bags…
Surprise surprise… I sign a form and I get a holdall bag… I open it up… Nike Hyper Elite Shorts, compression shorts, tees, vests, socks and the much talked about Zoom Hyperfuse! Yes Gary was hating, but its all good.. he got a pair of very nice Hyperdunk 2010.. Right Gwar?

We got back on the coach and made our way to Harlem where we were going to be playing basketball in the LEGENDARY Rucker Park… Now this was quite a nervous moment for me… as being from the UK, we only ever just heard about Rucker in songs, movies and reading it on websites and magazines…

Would I be able to play, shoot, dunk! and who was watching! Arghh nerves… but I loved it! Playing with all the crew we warmed up! Then we got in to a couple games! It was great fun… I twisted my ankle but thats due to old age of trying to perform moves that my mind is telling me I can still do, but my body is saying “What the heck are you doing?”!

A couple hours past and we were then taken back to the hotel where we could chill out for the rest of the evening…

This experience of being in NY with the UK team was an amazing chance to see what was coming up this summer. Whether or not I am to go back to cover the event in August… this trip was a spectacular few days! Thank you to Nike Basketball, Nike UK and the World Basketball Festival for inviting me out there… and I look forward to watching the games whether in London or in NY!

And as our leaving pic… we had to do the old school, “Jump in the Air” shot!