The winter months in Toronto were tough for Mavs forward Dwight Powell during his childhood. Outdoor basketball courts across the city would be covered in snow, ice, or both, which limited the chances he and his friends had at getting a good game in on the weekend. They would wait, and wait, and wait for spring.
“And as soon as that first sunny day came, it was 7 a.m. Saturday morning and we were hunting,” he said. “Hunting for runs, hunting for courts like this.”
The brand-new court “like this” he’s referring to can be found in Griggs Park, a historic 8-acre park in Uptown. On Tuesday Powell reflected on his younger days in front of a group of children from the Roseland Boys & Girls Club as the Mavs Foundation unveiled the floor. One, a teenager sporting a Mavericks shirt and Miami Heat shorts — Powell would chide him for it, of course — would later beat the Mavs forward in a dramatic game of knockout.
Powell’s message to the kids: Take advantage of the court. Use it to develop relationships. Use it to become closer to the community.
“We played with people from all different walks of life, all different faiths, and all different skin colors,” he said of his early days in Toronto. “I felt it really brought my community closer to me. It made me feel like I was a part of something bigger than myself. At the time I didn’t realize, but when I look back and think about the relationships that I made on the courts just like this at the age of 12, 13, it ended up being lifelong relationships. I’m grateful for that, because it created an opportunity for me to fall in love with this game that’s given me everything and provided for my family.”
The Griggs court is the 19th in North Texas built by the Mavs Foundation in the last 20 years. The foundation has granted nearly $3.5 million to other local non-profit organizations serving children, women, and families. It’s also contributed reading and learning centers to several schools and communities throughout the Metroplex.
Mavs legend Rolando Blackman also spoke publicly to the children, then brought them together afterward and gave an intense, impassioned speech on how pursuing an education could change their lives for the better. Born in Panama, Blackman didn’t speak a word of English when he arrived in the United States during his childhood, growing up in Brooklyn before playing college ball at Kansas State and eventually setting the all-time Dallas franchise scoring record. If there’s anyone who can relate to these kids, it’s Blackman.
Like Powell, Blackman presented the new court as an opportunity for the children to come together in one place and grow both as individuals and a community as a whole. The court is a gift, he said, and it’s up to them to decide how it will be used.
“What are you going to do with it?” he challenged them. “What is your charge, your responsibility, your fire in life to be able to move yourself forward so that you too can become a point of light, to be able to create for the community that you want to live in, and be able to advance yourself and become successful people?”
Point taken, both by the kids and also the adults in attendance. Blackman’s passion is contagious and legendary — his cry of “confidence, baby, confidence!” while knocking down a game-tying free throw with no time on the clock in 1987 still stands out as one of the greatest moments in NBA All-Star Game history — and spending just five minutes around him at an event like this is enough to inspire a crowd.
Basketball courts are meant for basketball, and basketball is supposed to be fun. But both Powell and Blackman suggested to the Roseland Boys & Girls Club that there is much more to the game than smiling and exercise. The game provides an opportunity to become part of something greater than themselves.
Share and comment