The World Basketball Festival at Rucker Park - the legendary basketball court was the WBF's outdoor location hosting a number of games as well as training sessions.
This legendary basketball court is named after the Harlem school teacher Holocombe Rucker who in 1950 staged the first tournament at the park, a social initiative to support less fortunate kids to engage in the sport, to get them off the streets and help them on their way towards college.
During the WBF, Rucker Park saw two days of intense games, training sessions and one big surprise! Our first trip to Rucker Park got us out of our beds early in the morning. We made our way up to Harlem to watch the kids' training during the Jordan Brand Breakfast Club sessions.The Jordan Brand Breakfast Club is a basketball intensive 'training clinic' designed to help prepare young athletes in the off-season. The program, committed to challenging New York City youth, kicked off on June 12. with the help of Team Jordan athlete Carmelo Anthony. Idan Ravin, athletic trainer to Team Jordan athletes and All Stars Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul, and Daryl L. Smith, who was previously the featured trainer for the 2008 Breakfast Club Training Tour, spearheaded this summer’s Breakfast Club clinics. They led the students through drills, basketball specific training, and gave them a taste of what it is like to train as a professional basketball player. After the training session, the kids were in for a treat. No other than Michael Jordan himself made a surprise appearance that got everyone off of their seats. Later in the afternoon we returned to Rucker Park for an exciting game between China and the US high school teams.
On Saturday the action at Rucker Park continued with scrimmages by Nike-supported national teams from Brazil and Puerto Rico as well as a training session by France. The highlight of the day was definitely the "Battle of the Boroughs" an energetic game between the teams of Harlem and Queens.
At The Ball Room we had already heard about the importance of Rucker Park and some of the professional players who had played here in their early years.
| INTERESTING LINKS: | The Rucker |
| New York Times: Carrying On an Asphalt Legacy |
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