Many of the young Teammate
ProCamp basketball players weren't even born when country music
superstar Garth Brooks quit performing more than a decade ago. But they
cheered, posed for photographs and gave high-fives to the affable Brooks
during a celebrity appearance Saturday at the camp in the gym at Elk
Grove High School.
Country music superstar Garth Brooks, in his
black hat, and his old college buddy, University of Kansas head
basketball coach Bill Self, share a moment with a young camper Saturday
at the ProCamps baskebaball camp at Elk Grove High School.
Photograph Courtesy of Moments by Moser
Photograph Courtesy of Moments by Moser
"Be on a team," Brooks told the 150
children, explaining how he couldn't have returned to the concert
circuit or formed his Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation without
lots of good teammates.
Brooks told the 150 kids from the local
Boys & Girls Club, the Salvation Army and the Oasis Trailer Park
that even though they might look different or come from different
backgrounds, they are all on the same team.
"Love one another. Have fun. Play your sport," Brooks said.
Kicking off his Garth Brook World Tour
on Thursday with his first of 11 concerts in Rosemont, Brooks said one
of the benefits of his tour schedule is that the travel provides him and
his charity more opportunities to meet with kids across the nation.
"Now that we're back on tour, the
parties are back in every city," Brooks said of the camps, which are
free. "I love these kids."
He didn't offer any basketball tips.
"You can look at me and see that I don't play," Brooks, 52, said with a
laugh as he patted his belly. But Brooks did bring along a teammate who
could pick up that slack for him -- his longtime friend Bill Self, the
head basketball coach for the Kansas Jayhawks.
Buddies from their college days together, country
music superstar Garth Brooks, in his trademark black hat, and University
of Kansas head basketball coach Bill Self sit for a photo with kids at
the ProCamp basketball camp Saturday at Elk Grove High School. The event
was sponsored by Brooks' Teammates for Kids Foundation.
Photograph Courtesy of Moments by Moser
"We played together on the same
softball team for seven years," says Self, who met Brooks when they both
were students at Oklahoma State University in the 1980s.
Self, who left his coaching post at the
University of Illinois for Kansas, where he won an NCAA championship,
clearly could offer kids plenty of basketball tips. But he yielded the
gym floor to Brooks, who removed his trademark black cowboy hat as he
shook hands with his young fans and their coaches.
"This is his show, not mine," Self said
of Brooks, praising the singer for being so personally involved in
charity work. "Sometimes it's good not to be the quarterback, and be a
good teammate. That's what I'm doing right now, being a good teammate."
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