It’s another installment of the Nick & JaVale Show, and this time JaVale surprises a gym full of shrieking school children.
Last school year, the kids in the video below wrote several letters to JaVale asking him to visit. JaVale had made a promise to the principal, who happens to also be his cousin, that he would spend some time with the students.
Due to scheduling limitations, JaVale couldn’t make the visit last year and made a phone call instead.
The children were quick to let him know that a phone call wouldn’t cut it.
“I called the school and spoke to all the kids on speaker phone” he told us. “They reminded me that they were still anxiously waiting for my visit. I loved the fact that they are very persistent.”
Last Friday JaVale drove from Las Vegas, where he is participating in the Impact Basketball Camp, to the school in Gardena, Calif., to surprise the kids.
He spent the day taking pictures, signing autographs and dancing with the students.
And it wouldn’t be a JaVale event without planking, so of course there was some of that thrown in.
The event was great for the kids, but it also served as therapy for JaVale.
“Whenever I'm feeling down or having an off day in basketball, I think about all of the kids and how far I've come to get where I am and that is my motivation,” JaVale explained. “In the letters a few kids said I was their favorite player, and that gives me the greatest amount of joy.”
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