The Brooklyn Nets and BSE Global were in the holiday spirit on Monday when they treated 200 local elementary school students to an early holiday celebration filled with food, games, and other fun activities at the Barclays Center.
Arts and crafts, air hockey, Jenga, and dancing were enjoyed by the second and third graders on the team’s practice court with Nets players Jarrett Allen, Ed Davis, Joe Harris, Shabazz Napier, Theo Pinson and several others.
The kids attending were also able to run drills on the Nets main court with veteran forward Alvin Williams, and rookies Rodion Kurucs and Dzana Musa before sitting down for an early pizza and burger dinner in the Qatar Airways Courtside Club with the rest of the players.
“This has been amazing for the boys. they were sitting here coloring with NBA players and you realize that they’re are just regular people and for these boys to see a young men like that spend time with them is absolutely amazing,”said Latoya Harris who is a teacher at Imagine Me Leadership Charter School in East New York, which chose 29 out of 225 students with perfect attendance to attend the holiday party.
“I never realized my impact would be this big, and I never knew I could be a part of moments like these,” said Nets sophomore center Allen, who previously held a Thanksgiving shopping spree for kids from the Ingersoll Community Center.
Other students invited to the holiday party were from Brooklyn Community Services Beach Program at PS11 and Dr. Susan S. McKinney Secondary School of the Arts, the CAMBA after-school program at PS3 in partnership with the Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance and What About the Children, Inc.
Everywhere you turned Nets players seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as the students. Whether it was a focused Napier coloring with a group of kids or a competitive Kurucs taking all challengers in Jenga, students got the experience intended by the Nets.
The afternoon also included a DJ with special performances by Team Hype and the Brooklynettes Dance Team, who were also joined by Williams on the dance floor for ‘The Wobble.’ The icing on the cake were the Christmas gift bags students received before exiting the arena, but the players won the kids over long before that.
“For me this is not only about giving gifts or being able to see an NBA player, for me this is about how much time you can give these kids,” said Kurucs, the Nets first round pick in the 2018. “I love being here for them and seeing smiles on their faces.”
The Nets have been off since their December 8 win against crosstown rival the New York Knicks. They hope to extend their two-game winning streak on December 12, against the Philadelphia 76ers in Philadelphia.
