Mikal Bridges gets schooled in Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Nets are trying to build a new generation of fans in the borough, fans who grow up with the black-and-white and what better way than to have one of the team’s stars show up bright and early at a local school to serve as a substitute teacher for the day.

Back on March 11, the Monday after the Nets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, Bridges traveled from his Manhattan apartment to PS 134 in the Kensington section of Brooklyn south of Prospect Park. Kensington draws new immigrants from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Haiti, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the Darfur region of Sudan, Poland, Russia among other places.

Despite getting in at 1:30 a.m. the night before, Bridges sat his 6’6” frame down among K through 5 student early on. As CBS News reported:

Many of the kids seized the opportunity to tell Bridges they too play basketball. On the playground at recess, they marveled at how tall he was and one stopped their ball game to ask Bridges for a hug.

“My other dream was being a second grade teacher,” Bridges told CBS News who was on hand for his teaching gig. “I think just helping kids has always been a big thing of mine.”

Second grade seems a bit specific but like a lot of us, Bridges had a favorite teacher who helped him define his personality, set him on the road to success. In his case, it was a Philadelphia teacher named Ms. Porter.

“I loved second grade when I was young,” he said. “I feel like that was one of the years I really remember. Just having a great year. I had a great teacher named Ms. Porter and just I feel like I always loved second grade.”

Bridges started the day with a game of knockout with fourth graders in the school gym but the day also included Q. and A. sessions as well as a music class for first graders and a math class, learning a little himself along the way.

“They were teaching me on the little xylophone. I didn’t know what I was doing ... what the teacher was teaching,” he said. “The kid next to me was pointing at the board like, ‘Follow that, follow that.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, ok. That makes sense.’”

He was also taken a little aback by some of the students’ questions, like “How do you incorporate your personal life with your professional life?”

“I like that [question],” he told CBS. “It’s not that bad, actually. I think the biggest thing is time. In season, you don’t have that much time because I travel a lot. But I’ve been in it about for six years now, so I found a good balance hanging out with friends and relaxing and preparing for the games.”

Bridges didn’t just answer questions. He asked few too as he taught some math, his favorite subject, using some NBA “data.”

The experience was a positive one for the school, the students and substitute teacher. Meeting the students fulfilled a dream for him, Bridges said, and retaught him a lesson about teachers like Ms. Porter.

“A lot of days, we’re in school,” he said. “And we’re with our teachers and I think they just don’t get enough credit. Because we’re around them a lot, you know what I’m saying. And they help us become better people every day. And I think some are overlooked a little bit.”

For the organization, the day was about relating to the Brooklyn community and not just a little about introducing the team and its players to a generation of fans, some of whom may not know much about the game. Now, though, they know about Brooklyn Bridges and what he represents.

• This NBA star always dreamed of being a teacher. So students in Brooklyn got the substitute teacher of a lifetime - Kaitlin O’Kane - CBS News
• Brooklyn Nets star Mikal Bridges teaches NYC public school students for a day, fulfilling lifelong dream - Allie Griffin - New York Post