Chocolate Thunder’s AAU Squad
Words. HShoop
The rump-roasting, bun-toasting 6-11 NBA legend, Darryl Dawkins had a passion for dunking (and naming those slams) during his playing days. He was an unbelievable force at Maynard Evans High School (Orlando, Fla.), so much so that he was the first high schooler ever taken in the NBA Draft. (A year earlier, the ABA’s Utah Stars chose Moses Malone right out of high school.) And since his career ended, Dawkins’ love for dunking has only been matched by his love for coaching. He’s taught the game throughout North America – traveling from his Winnipeg team in the International Basketball Association (IBA) to the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs of the United States Basketball League (USBL).
“I’ve been involved with a couple of teams that have folded. ABA – one out of Newark and one out of Florida that has folded. You never got your money. You’re coaching for the love of it anyway. Nobody is coaching in the minor leagues to get rich.”
And now, Double D has taken on a new challenge as a coach for a group of 14-16 year old kids with a special mission. The Sports University AAU All-Stars (Fairfield, N.J.) have the privilege of working with Dawkins and his talented staff of coaches and mentors. While the kids work on the fundamentals of the game with these teachers, they also learn important life lessons, with the ultimate goal of building good people and hard-working, committed citizens. In order to do so, the Sports University AAU staff drew on kids from the inner city as well as the suburbs of Northern New Jersey. The kids will also have plenty of time to learn more about their diverse backgrounds during their trip to Iceland on April 17th.
As much as they learn about each other, their shared experience of hooping together under one of the game’s greatest will provide invaluable life lessons.
“Coach Ed Bright works with them hard,” says Dawkins. “And I’m sort of like the good cop/bad cop. When coach grills them up and he knows he grilling them up, he’ll send them down to the end of the bench. And that’s when I step in and do my “Dawkatometry.” I’ll tell them, ‘Coach is not really mad at you. He’s mad at the situation because he coaches you better than this, you should know this by now. Get your head up because he’s going to come back to you in a little while, and if you’re still down here pouting, you’re not going to be able to go in the game and make a difference.’ Well I’ve been able to make a difference with those kids.”
In this case, “Dawkatometry” is a way that Coach Darryl gets his kids to give their best on the floor. Truthfully, he doesn’t need to sit kids down and lay that message out to express it. His presence alone is enough to communicate that the most important lesson anyone can take away from their time on the Sports University AAU All-Stars is not how to box out or throw a back-door pass, but how to be the best person you can be.
“We’re doing it because we love it and we love kids,” says Dawk. “We want to see the kids get a chance to do good things and achieve good goals. I think too often that they see in their communities the wrong guy for their role model. We want them to know that you can be a role model yourself. You just have to step up, and when you make it, you come back to your community.”
For more info on the Sports University AAU team, head to www.14andunder.tv
Thank God, for men like Darryl Dawkins and Ed Bright who take time to educate our youth. I am sure its not only on the basketball court but also on the court “called life.” I am also sure that these young men will benefit from your efforts and unselfish acts of love and kindness. Our world needs more people like you and our children need more positive role models who are not out for the money as well. You both have made it and brought it back to your community. God Bless you.
I had the privilege of meeting and getting to know Ed Bright. I must say it’s been a pleasure. Ed truly cares about their growth on the court and off the court. What Dawkins and Bright are doing with theses kids is priceless. I’m sure every kid that comes out of this program will be ready to face the adult world the moment they embark on it.