I coached sports teams, visited students and tutored them in various subjects. That’s when I developed a more consistent Buddhist practice and connected with the local SGI organization.Īs my basketball career blossomed, I traveled the world playing professionally in places such as Croatia, Spain, Turkey, Israel and China, among others.Īfter 15 years, I retired from basketball and returned to Brooklyn, where I was hired in 2009 as a community assistant at an alternative high school in Brownsville. I never thought that life could get harder outside of Brooklyn, but in Chicago I was nearly killed several times for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She would bring me along to many SGI activities where I would cause mischief, but through it all I was learning from my mother’s example that I could overcome the trials and tribulations in my personal life through my Buddhist practice.
My mother, an SGI-USA pioneer, always chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for me to awaken to my mission and develop into a strong, capable person. I was the target of bullies and would often return home unrecognizable after being beat up.īasketball became an escape from my dangerous environment, and I went on to play Division I basketball at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. Shootings and killings were the norm in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where I grew up in the ’80s.
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