EDIT SHOULD BE AMELIA'S ^^^
Good article on Al Nolen - now at Anthony Middle School in Minneapolis.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/269980741.html
...
Now, two years out of his overseas basketball career, Nolen hopes to eliminate some of the struggles he went through as a kid from the inner city. Last year, the former point guard took a job as the Dean of Students at Anthony Middle School in South Minneapolis, not too far from where he grew up.
In his neighborhood, there wasn't a culture of working hard in school, his said. The kids he hung with all wanted to go on to do bigger and better things, but instead of visualizing that ascent through school, they fantasized about becoming sports stars. Nolen hopes to do his part to snap kids' heads out of the clouds before it's too late.
He knows he was lucky. A basketball scholarship at a high-major university afforded him certain opportunities, and a safety net. After struggling to stay eligible at Minnesota, Nolen was forced to sit out the second semester of his junior year with inadequate grades. He left, a year later, a few credits shy of a degree
When he returned from playing overseas, the university paid for him to finish.
Other kids, he knows, won't have so many chances.
"I feel like a lot of inner city kids aren't taught or aware of the skills that are needed," he said. "It's not being pushed in their face -- they're seeing everything else except for that ... I thought that since I've been there and I've done it and kind of went through the gauntlet as you could say, I wanted to help out."
These days, any kid at Anthony who gets in trouble, gets frustrated in class or simply needs a break arrives in Nolen's office. Sometimes he'll hand out detention or call or meet with the parents. Other times, he'll simply talk.
"Being a mentor, that's how I look at it," he said.
The new position -- from point guard to counselor -- feels natural for Nolen, who hung up his high tops at the end of his 2012-13 season overseas.
...
Good article on Al Nolen - now at Anthony Middle School in Minneapolis.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/269980741.html
...
Now, two years out of his overseas basketball career, Nolen hopes to eliminate some of the struggles he went through as a kid from the inner city. Last year, the former point guard took a job as the Dean of Students at Anthony Middle School in South Minneapolis, not too far from where he grew up.
In his neighborhood, there wasn't a culture of working hard in school, his said. The kids he hung with all wanted to go on to do bigger and better things, but instead of visualizing that ascent through school, they fantasized about becoming sports stars. Nolen hopes to do his part to snap kids' heads out of the clouds before it's too late.
He knows he was lucky. A basketball scholarship at a high-major university afforded him certain opportunities, and a safety net. After struggling to stay eligible at Minnesota, Nolen was forced to sit out the second semester of his junior year with inadequate grades. He left, a year later, a few credits shy of a degree
When he returned from playing overseas, the university paid for him to finish.
Other kids, he knows, won't have so many chances.
"I feel like a lot of inner city kids aren't taught or aware of the skills that are needed," he said. "It's not being pushed in their face -- they're seeing everything else except for that ... I thought that since I've been there and I've done it and kind of went through the gauntlet as you could say, I wanted to help out."
These days, any kid at Anthony who gets in trouble, gets frustrated in class or simply needs a break arrives in Nolen's office. Sometimes he'll hand out detention or call or meet with the parents. Other times, he'll simply talk.
"Being a mentor, that's how I look at it," he said.
The new position -- from point guard to counselor -- feels natural for Nolen, who hung up his high tops at the end of his 2012-13 season overseas.
...
