DAVID HUNTER, Special to the Courier
Monday, March 26, 2012 6:15 am
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Former Charlotte (now New Orleans) Hornets guard Muggsy Bogues, who stands 5-foot-3-inch tall, will take part April 13 in the third annual Sneaker Ball and Golf Scramble benefiting the local First Shot Basketball Foundation.
The event will include a golf scramble at Old Fort Park, a basketball clinic at Patterson Park, and finally a reception at the Smyrna Air Center.
“We are excited to have a person and player of Muggsy’s caliber to be a part of our annual fundraising event,” said Andy Herzer, executive director of the First Shot Basketball Tournament. “He has been an inspiration to many youths over the years from his play on the court and his work off of it.”
Herzer said students will be taking part in the basketball clinic with Bogues and the MTSU men’s basketball team at Patterson Park from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., adding the organization is excited to have a famous NBA player coming to Murfreesboro.
“They are excited about meeting him,” Herzer said. “It’s a great opportunity for them.”
Bogues spent 14 seasons with four different teams in the NBA, including 10 with the Hornets, in a career that lasted from 1987-2001. Currently, Bogues is the head coach of the United Faith Christian Academy in Charlotte, N.C.
Herzer said the goal of the event is to help raise money for his charitable organization, which holds free basketball camps at different times throughout the year for under-served and at-risk youth in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County through a variety of athletic, academic and life enrichment avenues.
The clinic will be open to students ages five to the eighth grade, and the cost per student is $20.
“We want to invoke confidence in kids, and give them a shot to succeed,” Herzer said of one of the goals of the organization that is in its seventh year of operation.
Spring break starts tomorrow for area students, while some of them will be going out of town for vacation, others will be staying in town and taking part in one of the group’s weeklong First Shot Patterson Skills Academy that will focus more what they will learn on the court.
Besides basketball, the students in the camp will also take part other lessons including music, math and reading as Herzer hopes to help the kids find a passion that was formed at this camp and will use later in life.
There is also camps held during fall break and three weeks during the summer months.
For more information, contact the organization’s website at firstshotbasketball.net.