Trotting into Palmy
Basketball’s kings and queens of skill and showmanship have shown Palmerston North’s budding ballers what kind of skills it takes to conquer the world.
Dozens of children and teens took to the Steven Adams Basketball Court in the Raleigh Street Reserve yesterday to test their skills against two of the Harlem Globetrotters.
The Globetrotters, founded in 1926, are world famous for their exhibition games designed to show off their prowess.
More often than not, the two Globetrotters – Dragon Taylor and Ice Hrynko – outplayed their opponents, despite the wind doing its best to steal the show. Taylor has played in the NBA development league and Hrynko in the WNBA, among others.
It was also not for lack of trying on the locals’ part. But hearing Hrynko urge people to block Taylor’s shots, when he barely needed to get his toes off the ground to slam dunk, seemed wishful thinking.
Stalone Bishop, 6, took the pair on at their own game, executing multiple between-the-legs moves to make his way around Taylor before sinking a bucket.
He said he had played ‘‘thousands of times’’, before clarifying he started aged 5.
His favourite part about basketball was shooting, and it took lots of practice to be able to dribble the ball between his legs, he said.
Stalone’s nan Daryl-anne Gorge said Stalone had not heard of the Globetrotters, but he was impressed when his koro showed him a video.
Stalone loved playing basketball, and would stay at the court all day if he could, she said.
Hrynko and Taylor also taught some people how to perform some of their tricks, before getting more people involved in a ‘‘magic circle’’ tricks routine.
They also spent time earlier in the day performing at Waitangi Day celebrations in The Square.
The full Globetrotters contingent will be in Palmerston North on April 20 for a show at Fly Palmy Arena.