Dream to Be a Hero
Most parents who want to send their kids to camp in the summertime have to pay hundreds, even thousands of your kid happens be a really good basketball player,you probably won"t have to pay a kid will go to camp,basketball camp,courtesy of Nike e shoe companies scour the country for the best basketball talent and compeite like crazy to get those kids into their brand,offering free shoes,free tips,free camps to even younger players.
Inteviewer :How old were you when they started
To singling you out? Were you just a little kid?
Tyson Chandler:It was about 5th garde,6th grade.
When we first met him in 1997,Tyson Chandler had just finished 8th grade but he and his teamnates on the southern Califolia all stars were already sponsored and equipped by Nike.
Interviewer:You are all wearing Nike.
Chandler:Yeah.
Interviewer:You are Nikemen
Chandler:AlI Nike.
Nike and Adidas have turned summertime into a huge basketball bazaar,spending millions of dollars to coral every kid with a decent jump ing that one Of two of them wiIl develop into supestar and human bi11boards.
As soon as kids are finished with their junior high or high school seasons in the spring,coaches armed with free shoes are weid1ing to recruit them from Nike summer teams or Adidas summer team that will play all the way through August.
Both Nike and Adidas have sponsored youth tournaments in reds of kids as young as 12 showing their skills on the court,and strutting their stuff on the strip. At an age when them only mail most kids get is birthday party nvitations,Tyson
got recruitment letters from UCLA and Arizona and Syracuse.
They wanted him for later,Nike already had companies also have their hooks in high school basketball teams,all around the country.
There are more than a hundred Nike high schools and a hundred Addidas high get free shoes,free uniforms and free equipment and often cash for the return Nike and
Adidas get exposure,loyalty and a pipeline for promsing and more,the best teenage players are turning
pro right from high school.
Tyson"s mother is worried that things are moving to fast for her son.
Interviewer:Do you worry sometimes about what this is doing to your kid?
Mother:Yes,I do,I worry cause I don"t want him to move too fast,I still want him to be a kid.
Interviewer:He is a kid.
Mother:Yeah,but a lot of people overlook that because of his height.
許多父母情願花上幾百,甚至幾千美元也要把孩子送進夏令營。如果你的孩子是一個灌籃高手,你也許就不用花費分文。你的孩子將可以參加一個由耐克和阿迪達任斯舉辦的籃球夏令營。這些鞋業公司到全國各地蒐羅籃鳴球精英,爭先恐後地將這些孩子招至自家公司旗下,甚至為小孩子們提供免費鞋子、對免費的旅行和免費的夏令營。
記者:他們把你挑出來的時出候你多大?當時你還是個小孩子吧?
泰森·錢德勒:那時候我大約五、六年級。
1997年初見到泰森·錢德勒的時候,他剛剛讀完八年但他和他在加利福尼亞南部的.全明星籃球賽的隊友們已全部獲得耐克公司贊助,並獲全套耐克裝備。
記者:你們都穿耐克。
錢德勒:是的。
記者:你的鞋子也是耐克的。
錢德勒:是的。
記者:你們都是耐克人。
錢德勒:全是耐克。
耐克和阿迪達斯把暑假時光變成了一個大型籃球市場,為了一個優美的跳躍投籃動作就在每個孩子身上技資數百萬美元,希望他們中的一個或兩個能成長為超級明星或活招牌。一旦孩子們完成了春季的國中或高中學業,那些以免費鞋子做誘餌的教練就開始將他們從耐克或阿迪達斯夏令營隊招募進來,然後整個八月便持續進行比賽。
耐克和阿迪達斯都贊助了拉斯維加斯的青年錦標賽。成百上千的小孩子,甚至只有十二歲的小不點也在賽場上展示著他們的球技,在繁華大街上炫耀著自己的球技。同齡的孩子此時收到的只是生日宴會的邀請函,而泰森則收到加利福尼亞大學洛杉磯分校、亞利桑那大學和錫拉丘茲大學的錄取通知書。這些大學只能排後了,因為現在他屬於耐克。兩家公司在全國中學的籃球隊裡都有星探,全國大約有一百多所耐克中學和一百所阿迪達斯中學。他們提供免費的鞋子、免費的球服和免費的裝備,還為教練支付酬金。作為回報,耐克和阿迪達斯則獲得曝光率、忠誠以及輸送大有前途的球員。於是,這些出類拔萃的少年球員一從中學畢業就成了職業球員。
泰森的媽媽有些擔心,這樣的發展對她兒子來說是不是太快了些。
記者:有時你是不是會擔心孩子現在的經歷?
媽媽:是的。我擔心,因為我不想他發展得太快。我想讓他做個小孩子。
記者:他本來就是個小孩子。
媽媽:是的,可是許多人都因為他的身高而忽視這一點。
