‘Region and build no hindrance to dreaming big’
NBA star Plumlee engages with kids during two-day training camp in Dubai
Mason Plumlee, a National Basketball Association (NBA) player with Denver Nuggets, feels that the region or build of a player should not be a deterrent to any youngster towards making it big in his sport.
“There is no such thing as region or build when it comes to sport. I believe that any kid from anywhere in the world can make it big. For example, a kid can from here can go and play anywhere in the world. He can go and play in college in the US to start with, or he can even play in the NBA,” he said on the sidelines of a coaching clinic in Dubai.
“This can happen only when the kids are playing the game while growing up and developing a passion for it all along,” he added.
Plumlee, who first visited Dubai in 2011 with the famed Duke University team that Sport is what defines the Plumlee family. Mason Plumlee grew up with brothers Miles — who also played for Duke and currently plays for the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA — and Marshall who also played for Duke and currently plays for the New York Knicks. His sister Madeleine plays volleyball for the University of Notre Dame.
Mason and Miles became the sixth pair of brothers to play at Duke at the same time, and with Marshall’s NCAA championship in 2015, all three Plumlee brothers won NCAA championships playing for Duke. “It’s [basketball] like a family game and we’ve always enjoyed playing it. Also, where I grew up in Indiana is a big basketball State and I’ve always enjoyed playing growing up. This has given me a genuine love and passion for basketball,” Mason told
The Plumlee parents — Perky, a former Tennessee Tech basketball player, and Leslie, a former Purdue basketball player — also made it big during their time. The two, in fact, met at a basketball camp during the summer of 1979. His grandfather Albert ‘Bud’ Schultz played basketball at Michigan Tech (1944), while his uncle William Schultz played basketball at Wisconsin-Eau Claire (1971-72), and his uncle Chad Schultz played basketball at Wisconsin-Oshkosh (1983-86). The four Plumlee siblings now just continue the family tradition. “We all still play whenever we get together. During the off-season, we all live in New York and we work out, train and play together. It’s our time together,” Plumlee said. played against the UAE national team, is back this time to pass on the tricks of the trade to youngsters at the Gems Wellington Academy along Al Khail Road.
Earlier this year, Derv Rao of Duplays Sport and Social Club decided to host a two-day basketball camp in the school and Plumlee gladly accepted the offer to come and train the youngsters here.
“Having a training camp is very important in the life of a player who is serious. At some point, there were people who sent me to training camp, and that is when I got to meet college players and players from the NBA.
Helps in long run
“They were who I wanted to become and I got a chance to talk with them and interact with them and it all helped in the long run. I want these kids here to go through a similar experience as it goes a long way in making you into a player. This is my way of giving back to my sport,” Plumlee told Gulf News.
“This is the first time that we are putting together a camp and interacting with these kids. I would like to take this sort of thing forward as time goes on. I believe that if we do it well the very first time, then this will grow and we will be in a better position to have a camp every summer here,” the 27-year-old noted.
“Basketball is a great game and it should be shared with the world. I think we should push it here in the UAE in the right way, and everyone will benefit,” he added.
On February 13 this year, Plumlee was traded, along with a 2018 second round draft pick and cash considerations to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Jusuf Nurkic and a 2017 protected first round pick. Plumlee was a member of the US national team that won the gold medal at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Prior to that, he also won the silver medal with the Under-18 team at the FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship in 2008.