NBA’s Steven Adams holds court
Aspiring basketball fans filled Stadium Southland yesterday for the opportunity to run training drills with New Zealand’s highest paid athlete.
Oklahoma City Thunder NBA superstar Steven Adams ran the first of his training camps for the year in Invercargill, attracting 300 attendees, as part of the Sports Pathways Trust programme.
Sports Pathways chairman Spencer Webster said the programme gave Adams the opportunity to connect with local basketball communities.
Invercargill had a strong basketball history and Southland was prominent in the New Zealand National Basketball League.
The region had a ‘‘massive basketball community’’ so it was important to hold a camp in the city, Webster said.
One of the children who got to take part in one-on-one passing drills with Adams was Hendrix Pennieott, who said he had watched Adams on television but he was ‘‘much bigger’’ in real life.
Oklahoma City Thunder vice president of communications Dan Mahoney also made the trip to Invercargill.
The team’s media representatives often followed their players during the off season and being the boss, he got to choose to go on the best trips, Mahoney said.
Adams had real love for developing basketball in his country and it showed with his involvement in the camps, he said.
Southland Basketball Association president Jill Bolger said the biggest challenge to hosting a camp with a NBA superstar was allocating the tickets appropriately.
The 300 tickets were gone within an hour and half of releasing them to the public, Bolger said.
Children who had participated in Southland Basketball Association events took priority but they managed to get some children in who weren’t associated with the club that had an enthusiasm for basketball.
The camp would hopefully continue to grow the interest of basketball in Southland and there was a large number of girls attending the camp which would hopefully grow the women’s side of sport, she said.
Adams had been holding the camps in New Zealand since 2013, and this year they would be held in Invercargill, Napier and Whangarei.