Boston Celtics Head Coach Has Strong Ties to AAU Basketball
05/09/2022
Ime Udoka started the I-5 Elite AAU Basketball Club and set the foundation for where he would end up.
Original article posted at newsupdate.uk
Ime Udoka helped create the I-5 Elite AAU Basketball Club in 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. (May 2022) – Now leading the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Playoffs, Head Coach Ime Udoka has been preaching resilience and hard work since he was helping start an Amateur Athletic Union basketball team. For years, Udoka had talked to his friends about wanting to start an AAU basketball team. In 2006, he had that opportunity and he ran with it.
Udoka grew up in Portland as a kid obsessed with basketball. His obsession led him to become a top NBA prospect. After bouncing around the NBA for a few years, Udoka was signed by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2006. Here he would meet Nico Harrison, a marketing executive at Nike who set aside some money for Ime to start his AAU team like he always dreamed. Alongside two childhood friends, Udoka created the I-5 Elite basketball team. From 2006 to 2009, while still playing in the NBA, Udoka would patrol the sidelines of I-5 Elite games. As soon as the season would end for Udoka, he was rushing to the airport to meet up with his AAU team.
“We were going to teach them how to play,” Udoka said in an interview. “Structure, discipline, defense — those were all things I stressed. And that’s how I was as a player.”
And that is how he is as the Head Coach of the Boston Celtics. He has brought the defensive mindset to Boston and it has created the NBA’s number one defensive team in 2022. Whether he was in AAU tournaments with teenage athletes or in packed arenas with NBA superstars, Udoka has always challenged his players to give more effort than any opponent.
To read more about Ime Udoka’s rise from prospect, to FedEx worker, to player, and eventually coach, visit newsupdate.uk.
Ime Udoka helped create the I-5 Elite AAU Basketball Club in 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. (May 2022) – Now leading the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Playoffs, Head Coach Ime Udoka has been preaching resilience and hard work since he was helping start an Amateur Athletic Union basketball team. For years, Udoka had talked to his friends about wanting to start an AAU basketball team. In 2006, he had that opportunity and he ran with it.
Udoka grew up in Portland as a kid obsessed with basketball. His obsession led him to become a top NBA prospect. After bouncing around the NBA for a few years, Udoka was signed by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2006. Here he would meet Nico Harrison, a marketing executive at Nike who set aside some money for Ime to start his AAU team like he always dreamed. Alongside two childhood friends, Udoka created the I-5 Elite basketball team. From 2006 to 2009, while still playing in the NBA, Udoka would patrol the sidelines of I-5 Elite games. As soon as the season would end for Udoka, he was rushing to the airport to meet up with his AAU team.
“We were going to teach them how to play,” Udoka said in an interview. “Structure, discipline, defense — those were all things I stressed. And that’s how I was as a player.”
And that is how he is as the Head Coach of the Boston Celtics. He has brought the defensive mindset to Boston and it has created the NBA’s number one defensive team in 2022. Whether he was in AAU tournaments with teenage athletes or in packed arenas with NBA superstars, Udoka has always challenged his players to give more effort than any opponent.
To read more about Ime Udoka’s rise from prospect, to FedEx worker, to player, and eventually coach, visit newsupdate.uk.
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