Posts Tagged ‘Vanity Fair Magazine’
LeBron James – Got Game!
Read an excerpt from the LeBron James book called “Shooting Stars” in the October 2009 issue of Vanity Fair Magazine. In the article, “LeBron’s Band of Brothers”, he discusses his High School basketball team and their coach and how much they contributed to his success. There is also a DVD that covers the same story –“More Than a Game”. It too focuses on LeBron’s beginnings as a basketball super phenom, but I think it is so much more than an uplifting tale about “having game” on a court. Dreams are wonderful to have, it makes for Technicolor nights and days, but they’re not always enough.
It reminded me so much of a terrific documentary about inner city kids with basketball skills – “Hoop Dreams”, 1994. The film followed two Chicago High School kids as they were recruited by a predominantly white school with an ambitious basketball program. They both struggled, one more than the other- but neither one was really prepared academically and emotionally for the experience. They seemed so alone. It not only takes a lot of support to get as far as the NBA, but it also helps if you have some cheerleaders around to get you thru High School and College.
In the book “Shooting Stars” and the DVD “More Than a Game”, James introduces us to a different set of inner city basketball kids from Akron, Ohio. Both highlights the work of their coach, Dru Joyce, as the engine that drove them to achieve in a Catholic H.S. There were also several family members that gave the kids a way to take advantage of the opportunities available. They all had hoop dreams, but the intensity varied. Basket ball was everyone’s love, but some of the guys just wanted to hang with their friends and meet girls. When the NBA didn’t work out for them as it did for their buddy LeBron, , they were able to use their education and other skills to make a life for themselves. (One of the “brothers” is LeBron’s financial advisor – he majored in business)
The folks who surrounded these young men wanted them to be complete adults, not just ball players. To “have game” in life is a good thing.
