MOUNT PLEASANT — Two-and-a-half months after NBA star Caron Butler announced $200,000 in pledges to local charities, Saturday he was back — not in person, but in effect, to launch the Caron Butler Fall Youth Basketball League.
At the Sealed Air Family YMCA, more than 130 boys and girls ages 4-12 signed up for the new league, accompanied by family members.
Then, in the gymnasium, Jon Palmen and trainers from his company, Athletic Republic, formed them into age groups and began a 90-minute training camp.
“We’re giving them an NBA training camp,” said Christopher Bogan, who was Butler’s representative Saturday while Butler is away and training with the Los Angeles Clippers. The coed teams will scrimmage next Saturday and play their first official games the following Saturday; all games will be played at the new suburban YMCA, 8501 Campus Drive.
“We want to have inner-city kids exposed to a suburban lifestyle,” said Bogan, the Y’s precollege coordinator.
The fall league will culminate with a Dec. 15 trip to Milwaukee to see the Clippers play the Bucks and to meet Butler, Bogan said.
All of this will be followed by a Caron Butler spring league starting in about March, he said.
The new youth league is essentially a partnership between the Y and Butler, with plenty of volunteer help, such as the referees. The league is designed both to get children active but also inspire and mentor them scholastically, Bogan said.
“Caron doesn’t want any kid left behind in Racine,” he said.
“He cares about parents being active participants in the league,” Bogan added. “That’s why we pass out the shirts,” a reference to Butler’s signature 3-D philosophy, which stands for discipline, determination and dedication.
In a session introducing the new youth league, organizers showed a video highlight reel of Butler. It included his gruesome kneecap separation incident, in which Butler pulled his displaced kneecap back from the side of his leg to the front — then limped off the court under his own power.
Bogan said that clip was meant as a lesson to children that they can face adversity with calmness and dignity, rather than anger. He said, “We want them to see how he conducts himself.”
A high percentage of the children in the new league are from the Downtown YMCA’s neighborhood, Bogan said, adding that Butler wants to “make sure they’re well taken care of.”