Former NBA first round pick Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf returned to New Britain High School for his second annual youth basketball camp this week.
Former NBA first-round pick Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf returned to New Britain High School for his second-annual youth basketball camp.
MPact Mentoring, an organization that focuses on kids' mental, physical and emotional development, organized the 5-day camp and hundreds of kids attended throughout the week.
Abdul-Rauf, who grew up living with Tourette's Syndrome, was drafted third overall in the 1990 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets. He went on to average 15 points per game in his nine-year NBA career, which ended in 2001.
Now, he said, he wants to work with the next generation of athletes and provide lessons they can use on and off the court.
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"There's a saying, I mentioned it last night, if you want to find yourself, lose yourself in the service of others," said Abdul-Rauf. "The goal in life is to find your gift, the purpose is to give it away, so it's always a two-way street. We come here, we try to pour ourselves into these children and they pour themselves into us and they help to keep us young and to keep us thinking on our feet and being creative because the game matures but it's always bigger than the game of basketball."
Abdul-Rauf also shared more about his journey during a screening of his documentary "STAND" at the Hartford Public Library on Wednesday.
"It may sound corny but it's to make that type of impact, the name of the organization," said Abdul-Rauf. "Again, everything has carry over, everything that we do, and we want to instill that in them because these are the types of qualities that you're going to need whether you're going to be a husband, whether you're going to be a businessman, whether you're going to work at somebody's job, it's going to help sustain you and get you through life. Consistency is key."
