Hall of famer Paul Pierce leads basketball clinic at St. Paul High School

NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce speaks to basketball camp attendees at St. Paul High School's Santa Fe Springs, Ca. campus Saturday. Pierce played 19 seasons in the NBA, mostly with the Boston Celtics. (Photo by Leo Jarzomb)

SANTA FE SPRINGS – Basketball, pizza, and NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce. It doesn’t get any better than that for kids of any age at the St. Paul basketball clinic Saturday, October 16.

First-year St. Paul coach, Patrick Roy, along with his assistant coaches, Will Alexander and Zach Carter and athletic director Rich Avina, set up the clinic recently and it was a good response from the campers in attendance.

Both Alexander and Carter were on coach Roy’s previous staff at Inglewood High.

“It is always a great day and event when you have a professional athlete, Hall of Famer such as Paul Pierce,” St. Paul Athletic Director Rich Avina said. “We are fortunate and the St. Paul community loved it.

“Coach Roy and his staff did a great job putting this camp together,” Avina added. “The number of friends he has at the NBA level seems endless and we are expecting more camps in the near future.”

Coach Roy, who had a successful 25-year run at Inglewood, winning a pair of CIF championships, has a personal connection with Pierce as a player.

Pierce, a 10-time NBA All-Star who won a championship with the Celtics in 2008, played for Roy as a sophomore at Inglewood on the junior varsity and later the varsity team.

“It’s a positive thing, just being able to come out to St. Paul, a program that just recently hired me, to bring one of my former players is great,” said Roy of Pierce coming to the clinic. “I’m just happy to be here and happy that he can come and have these interactions. He said he’s going to be back again.”

Roy remembers Pierce as a young player and his progression.

“Whenever you have a player that’s on the rise and you know that he is going to be good and he thinks he is going to be good, it’s all about humility,” explained Roy, of an up-and-coming star like Pierce at the time. “It’s about humble and being meek and I saw him with the newspaper in his hands and he was sort of feeling himself, so I just sat him down.”

Roy remembered the beginnings of Pierce and his opportunity to play on varsity at Inglewood.

“There was a group of kids who went away on Christmas vacation, and I was forced to play him,” Roy said. “He basically came out in the game with a 20 (points) and 10 (rebounds) and was going to be cut in his sophomore year from varsity.

“Then he had 18 and eight and he had 29 and four and then I said ‘I can’t cut him now’. From that point on he just sky rocketed and blossomed and everything went really well.”

The clinic, which ran both Saturday and Sunday, was run by Jason McKinney (@RealisRare_bball_training). McKinney is the founder and owner of Real is Rare Basketball Skills Training.

On Sunday, they had fun with shooting drills and more of a competitive day of basketball.

“The game of basketball is like life skills,” said McKinney, who also played for coach Roy at Inglewood. “It’s a good feeling to take one thing and blossom into it. “Keeping it simple is the key, especially at this early age of basketball. They’re like sponges right now. They soak up everything.

“Coach Roy is a great mentor and that’s why I’m here. I played for him for two years and graduated in 2002. My job is to help the kids to gain more confidence.”

McKinney, who was very vocal and in charge, had the kids learn stretching and warm-up skills, then went into various drills, such as layups and rebounding.

And of course, before Pierce made his presence, a helping of pizza made their lunch a success.

Not long after lunch, Pierce came in to address the campers.

Adding to the crowd in the gym was football coach Rick Zepeda and his football team, which had been practicing just outside on the field. In addition to the players and kids, were parents who all wanted to meet with Pierce.

Pierce then addressed everyone, especially talking to the kids about being humble and to always believe in yourself.

“Confidence,” explained Pierce, to the kids. “I always believed in myself. Always be yourself and never give up.

“I was able to become a Hall of Fame player. It didn’t happen overnight. Just stay humble.”

He continued, “The most important thing is to always have fun and last but not least, be grateful. I was blessed to play 19 years.”

Pierce, who was inducted in the Hall this past September, then opened it up for questioning for the kids. In his one-on-one style, Pierce walked over to each kid and handed them the microphone to ask questions.

QUESTION – “Who is the best player you played against?”

PIERCE – “Kobe”

QUESTION – “What is the most points in one game?”

PIERCE – “50 points against LeBron. I grew up a Laker fan, but I was drafted by Boston. I wanted to be a Laker.”

QUESTION – “Did you ever block LeBron James?”

PIERCE - “I think I did block him once.”

Pierce then talked about his high school coach, Patrick Roy.

“You want to see the coach I played for?” said Pierce, pointing over to Roy. “I played for him and not only was he my coach, but mentor and friend.”

Pierce then told a short story about one of the turning points in his young basketball life.

“I did good in a game and coach told me, ‘You know, you’re not playing today.’ That humbled me. No matter how well you do, you can always do better. That lit a fire under me. Some kids would get discouraged, but that just made me work harder.

“That really challenged me as a kid and I can look back and I can thank him.”

Pierce talked of his commitment to giving back to young kids.

“Being an NBA player and the experience that I have to just give back to the kids in the community is important,” said Pierce, after he talked to the kids . “Coach Roy has been a big part in my life and I always try do anything for him. He wasn’t only my coach, but my brother and I’ll do anything for him.”

Pierce then went into one of the classrooms to meet with the St. Paul varsity players. He said to the players as he was signing his playing cards: “You give back to the game it’s given me and to be around and be an inspiration to the youngins, so that they can pass it on to the next generation, feels great, man.”

Future clinics planned

“We’re going to be doing quite a few more (clinics), as long as the athletic director, Mr. Avina, continues to let us do these things,” Roy said. “We’ll try to put some things together and keep it going.

“I had a chance to coach a lot of guys and against a lot of guys. Right now we’re looking at Chris Paul (Phoenix Suns) and we’re looking at Russell Westbrook (Lakers) and Malik Monk (Lakers) So, those are the three that we’re looking at for now.

“We’re happy with the turn out and hope to get more (kids) in the future.”

St. Paul begins season Nov. 17

The Swordsmen will open the season Wednesday November 17 at home against Compton in a nonleague game. Game time is 7:00 pm.

St. Paul finished with a 12-2 overall record last spring and a first-place finish in the Camino Real League. They made it to the CIF quarterfinals last season.

What they said:

Will Alexander, St. Paul boys Asst. basketball coach: “Roy is a legend in Inglewood (Inglewood high) as a player. He was the man in Inglewood.

“Being in youth sports all of these years, it’s exciting in a new school and a new community. We want to reach out to let them know that we’re over here. Obviously, St. Paul has a great tradition throughout. I know when I was a kid, St. Paul was a household name.

It’s exciting to immerse ourselves in a new community and doing this clinic.”

Rob Nasman, St. Paul boys head JV Basketball coach: “This clinic is a great thing for our program and our area to bring in kids. We want to bring in more kids to St. Paul. Coach Roy is just an infusion into pushing our basketball program to the next level. Coach (Damaine) Powell did a great job (2014-2021) and I think coach Roy will take us even higher.

I see a lot of these kids are learning a lot of stuff from our guys and they have been very good at helping the kids.”

Christian Miller, St. Paul Assistant Girls varsity Basketball coach: “It’s awesome just to have the association in terms of Paul Pierce being able to come here and be involved. For me, he is one of my favorite all-time players.

It brings an aura of things to come from coach Roy.”

Eric Reynoso, Bulldogs travel team Girls Basketball coach: “The club (Whittier Bulldogs) that I coach for told me about the clinic. It’s a beautiful thing, just seeing the kids be out here and getting a chance to be one-on-one with an NBA Hall of Famer.”

Sidy Aiello, St. Paul varsity basketball player: “This is fun working with the kids to make them get better. Helping the kids when they are young is good. If I was a kid, I would have liked it. It is something big to me to be around the kids.

Jordan Williams, St. Paul varsity basketball player: “I remember, as a kid, going to a Kawhi (Leonard) camp. It was a fun experience and all the players got to compete. Now, I get to come and show the kids what I learned and hopefully they find the love for the basketball game too. It’s great seeing the smiles on their face.”