DENVER, Colorado — On Sunday afternoon, it was time to hit the floor and learn!
With the help of former Nuggets Head Coach George Karl, Rise Above brought their Native American youth basketball camp to Denver for the first time.
Before Karl coached the Nuggets in the NBA, he coached the Montana Golden Nuggets of the CBA. Being around an Indian reservation in Montana, he understood their struggles, “It’s also where I found out how racist our country can be. It made me very sad,” said Karl, who owns the second most wins ever as a Nuggets Head Coach. “They’ve (indigenous people) have been ignored in a lot of ways and I’m in the stage of my life where if I can give back and help anybody I’ll do it.” He partnered with the Washington-based organization through his Seattle connections (he coached the Super Sonics from 1992-98).
The Milwaukee Bucks were in town to play the Denver Nuggets the next night and Bucks forward MarJon Beauchamp, one of the league’s few Native American players, helped coach the camp as well, “I’m good at reading people. Some of the kids have self-doubt, I see it. I just try to give them a smile and say ‘keep going!’ It’s a blessing just to give back and try to give faith and hope to the next.”
Two of the greatest women Native American hoopers ever also taught and spoke with the kids.
Lakota Beatty played Division I basketball at Oklahoma State and Oral Roberts and just got done playing professionally in Europe, “ I think sports is the easiest way to teach kids resilience and to push through and also give them a healthy outlet.”
Jaci McCormick was a star at Illinois State and is well known for her efforts in giving back to the Native community, through basketball and athletic camps, “You don’t know what Lakota has said or what MarJon has said to one kid that maybe can change the course of their life. It’s so special for us.”
Beauchamp stood in front of the 150 wide-eyed campers in attendance to preach about what’s gotten him this far in his life, from community college (Yakima Valley) to the NBA , “Everything you go through, is for a reason and you just have to learn from it and trust God’s timing.”
Rise Above takes their camp to different states every week and hopes to return to Denver next year.