Every single performance was simply amazing and there was a fun, festive atmosphere with give aways and crowd interaction.  The most powerful moment came when Dajuan Eubanks took the mic and began to share his story, some of the things he overcame to find success and the work that he put in to achieve some of his dreams and goals.  You could hear a pin drop when the 6’9 Eubanks placed a red white and blue basket ball next to his Harlem Globetrotter uniform at center court and spoke of travelling around the globe as the premier showman for the most famous basketball team in the world.  As he pointed to his uniform, he spoke about the fact that the uniform has never defined him, he defined the uniform.  He challenged the crowd, made up mostly of residents of the low income housing unit know affectionately as ‘Hyde Park’, to ‘never’ allow your circumstances to define who you are as a person, you define your own destiny.”  The honorary member of the basketball hall of fame, then spoke about the fact that he was a victim of bullying.  He reinforced my challenge to young people that are bullying to consider the repercussions of their actions and asked anyone who may be a victim of harassment, intimidation or any form of physical, or emotional bullying to take action.  He gave them several resources and spoke from his heart about his own experiences, challenges and what he overcame to find success in many areas of life.  I couldn’t have been anymore excited to have the opportunity to expose my community to such a great man.  I’m already looking at next year’s event.  I’m also working to package this program and take it into schools to help educate as many young people as possible on this incredibly important issue.  

 This was the very first camp that I’ve held for folks with special needs and it couldn’t have possible gone any better!  I’ve found over the years that the game of basketball can be an amazingly powerful vehicle to help those who live with developmental challenges to overcome many of the obstacles that they often struggle with. Communication, working together as a team to accomplish a goal, following the instructions of a coach or captain, sportsmanship, learning to win and lose gracefully, respect etc. The game instills a sense of self confidence and can boost the self esteem of anyone who is willing to work at it!
My hope is to do more camps like this in the future.  I’ll be reaching out to schools and agencies around the state this year, to work more with their young people and adults with special needs.  I hope to be able to show people just how therapeutic the game of basketball can be!  There are so many things that the game can teach us all about life!  The game has a way of rewarding hard work and punishing you if you don’t put in the work you should.

I thank God that over the past 11 years I’ve been blessed to be in a position to see this game touch the lives of some of God’s most precious creatures and I look forward to working with our friends with special needs in the future through this great game of basketball!

Click on this link for Times Record story about our camp,

 ”A Dream That You ‘Swish’ May Come True” Special Needs Camp Story

The Harlem Superstars game at the Bath Middle School was a huge success.  Some have said that the Bath Middle School has never held more people than it did on March 25th 2k10!  The game was scheduled to start at 6:30pm and by that time the gym was absolutely jam packed, kids sitting on the floor, standing room in the lobby and there was still a line out to the parking lot!  We had to turn a ton of people away unfortunately.  It was a fundraiser for my new charity, “White Shadow Outreach.”  It was alot of work but it was worth every single minute.  I was able to make a donation of half of my proceeds to a great local charity, The Odyssey of the Mind.  From the honor guard to Ed Hall’s Martial Arts Demonstration Team to the Woolwich Wildcat cheerleaders and the fun personalities on The Dream Team, it could not have gone any better! Looking forward to next year’s game.

Performing in Somerset New Jersey

I had the opportunity to share my testimony and perform at a Youth Conference for the Somerset Bible Baptist Church in Somerset , NJ a couple weeks ago.  It was great!  There were about 500 teens in attendance, and it was such a great feeling to be able to encourage the teens there and have a small part in the great things that the Lord was doing at this conference.  The preaching was amazing and I felt the hand of God on all that they were doing there. I talked with Bob Hooker and Reno Likins (two of the guest speakers) who both have ministries that reach thousands and thousands of people all over the world, about my basketball ministry and they both offered to help me get things off the ground.  My hope is to use showtime basketball to set the stage for young people to come under the sound of the gospel.  If I can use basketball to help children/teens realize their need to accept Jesus as their savior, I can’t imagine anything more important than that! 

I’m excited to put my talents in God’s hands and get back to doing his work!  Because if there’s anything that I learned from my near-death experience after complications from a back surgery a little over a year ago, it’s this:  only the things that you’ve done for the Creator, in the time he’s allowed you to have on this earth, is all that will truly matter when it’s your time to meet Him. 

I don’t try to pretend to be anything more than a dirty rotten sinner saved by His grace, but I just thank God for the opportunity I had in Somerset NJ last week to encourage some teenagers with my testimony.