Rakeem Christmas is holding a basketball camp in his home country of the Virgin Islands and giving back to the community.
It is July and Rakeem Christmas is doing something, so it was impossible to avoid using ‘Christmas in July’ in the headline. My apologies, but let’s move on…
That something is running a basketball camp in the Virgin Islands, a place he calls home after moving there when he was two years old.
But this all isn’t fun and games down there either, for Christmas.
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According to the Virgin Island Consortium’s Ernice Gilbert, he’s raising money to repair basketball courts in St. Thomas and St. Croix.
"One year later, Mr. Christmas is back at it again, this time with an outsize vision: repairing every dilapidated basketball court in the territory over the next several years, tackling one court at a time and enlisting the aid of the community — and his influential friends on and off the court — to help him achieve this vision.On Saturday, Mr. Christmas and his former Syracuse teammates who are now in the NBA themselves, will play a friendly game of basketball at the Central High School Gymnasium, with superstar duo R. City out of St. Thomas performing at halftime.“The proceeds we get from the events go towards building and repairing all the courts here and in St. Thomas,” Mr. Rakeem told The Consortium today. “I’m going to try to do one each year. We’re going to try our best and see what happens from there.”The Fort Frederick basketball court will be the first to undergo repairs, he said."
He’s doing all this while catching up with people and visiting his old stomping grounds.
Christmas spent much of his first season in the NBA with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, but he may become part of the Pacers rotation this season.
Next: Breaking Down the Best and Worst of Myles Turner
No matter what he does with the Pacers, I’m always going to be a fan of giving back to the community where you are from.