Lakers Community Relations and Spectrum hosted about 55 Playworks students from Cesar Chavez Elementary School in their Back-to-School Clinic at UCLA Health training center court on Monday, October 16th. The students were welcomed by the Lakers and Spectrum staff with enthusiastic smiles and high fives as they entered the facility, and they also each received special shirts to practice in. Our 3rd through 5th grade students received skilled training from the Lakers staff in a variety of basketball practice drills, including shooting, defense, and teamwork. We were honored with James Worthy, Lakers Alumni player, as our guest speaker for this event. At the closing of the event, two students were recognized for demonstrating excellent sportsmanship, consistently encouraged their peers by saying, “Good Job!” and playing their hardest while having fun in every drill.
James Worthy shared with the students the importance of learning team sports and how vital education is to their success. He made the connection between sports and the importance of academics for the students by giving the examples of careers, such as becoming “Kobe Bryant’s accountant” or “Lebron James’s Lawyer.”
Matthew Trujillo and Kayla Lainez Oliva, two students that were selected to demonstrate teamwork and positive attitude during the clinic, were awarded courtside tickets to the Lakers game on Wednesday, October 25, 2017. The students and parents enjoyed the game where they presented the game ball to the captains before tip-off.
The parents exclaimed, “It was a night to remember for our kids!”
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