{"id":44894,"date":"2023-07-13T10:40:49","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T14:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=44894"},"modified":"2023-07-13T10:40:49","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T14:40:49","slug":"former-celtic-visits-back-to-basics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2023\/07\/13\/former-celtic-visits-back-to-basics\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Celtic visits 'Back to Basics'"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Orrell<\/em>
\nLandmark correspondent<\/em><\/p>\n

HOLDEN \u2014 It\u2019s not every day that a former Boston Celtic who played in the NBA for 11 seasons rolls into town, but that was the case on June 27. Brian Scalabrine spoke to a group of 130 aspiring hoopsters at the 20th anniversary of the basketball summer school known as \u2018Back to Basics\u2019. He spoke to grades 3 thru 9 group about seeking passion in life and not being afraid of setting and achieving goals.<\/p>\n

The program, hosted and coordinated by Wachusett Regional High School boys varsity basketball head coach Tom Gibbons, with several coaches on board to provide a helping hand, allowed for smaller groups and greater emphasis on learning the game. But most of all, it was fun and fundamentals for the students of all ages, who clearly loved the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he (Scalabrine) told us was to work hard and be creative,\u201d said first-time player Thomas Anderson, a rising freshman. \u201cThink outside the box and don\u2019t get stuck inside that box and not be creative. The coaches constantly make things competitive. There\u2019s always games going on that are fun. It\u2019s been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learn to play as a team and pass better to dribbling skills. The coaches make it fun and I love playing the game,\u201d added third-grader Ryleigh Ginnety.<\/p>\n

Scalabrine, a power forward in his playing days, is currently a television analyst for the Boston Celtics. During his visit, he shared tips on how to train properly, showed some drills, and even executed a \u2018dunk\u2019, much to the delight of the onlooking crowd. He then spoke to the players about setting goals and following one\u2019s passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what you do in life, you\u2019ve got to be passionate about it,\u201d Scalabrine said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be basketball, it can be anything. People use the word \u2018passion\u2019, but what does that really mean? It means you\u2019re thirsty for knowledge to learn. You work your hardest and don\u2019t be afraid to fail. There\u2019s a lot of paths, but if you\u2019re true to yourself and work really hard, you can accomplish whatever goals you set for yourself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m learning from people all the time, and if you keep an open mind, things will fall into place. I meet NBA players every day, but I learn so much from watching high school games besides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibbons decided some time ago that the 20th anniversary of the basketball school should be special, hence the reach-out to Scalabrine. When he accepted, the wheels were set in motion for a special day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to grow the game, teach the game and the fundamentals that will lead to passion for the game,\u201d Gibbons said. \u201cThese kids are having a blast. There\u2019s fun competition and contests, and many are making new friends. It\u2019s just an enjoyable experience for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have really good players who are experienced and mature, and we have kids who are beginners. There\u2019s as little downtime as possible to impart as much information onto them while having a good time doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot about learning as you go,\u201d said coach Alex Ruppert. \u201cIf you know that a drill is going too long and the kids are losing interest, you want to change that drill up. We do competition drills, and that makes it a lot of fun. Whether it be shooting and getting a lot of shots up, you just change it up and watch them enjoy themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest thing that we\u2019re trying to achieve here is growth in the game of basketball and making new friends. Hopefully, they\u2019ll learn more about the game and we can expand interest across the Central Mass. area.”<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s (Scalabrine) been awesome with the kids shooting around with them. It\u2019s been a lot of fun seeing him shooting. It\u2019s a blast having him here,\u201d Rupert said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Orrell Landmark correspondent HOLDEN \u2014 It\u2019s not every day that a former Boston Celtic who played in the NBA for 11 seasons rolls into town, but that was the case on June 27. Brian Scalabrine spoke to a group of 130 aspiring hoopsters at the 20th anniversary of the basketball summer school known […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}