This past weekend the Armijo Recreation Center in South El Paso hosted the 15th Annual Basketball in the Barrio. There was a lot more than passing, dribbling, and shooting being taught at this camp.

“If you practice all the time, you’ll get better and better in anything,” says Rus Bradburd, former assistant NMSU and UTEP basketball coach, to a group of 100 local children this past Saturday.

The purpose of this camp isn’t to help kids improve their jump shot, it’s to help them understand their roots and their culture and to inspire them to become successful in their lives. It doesn’t matter what part of town they grow up in, as long as the children have desire, ambition, and inspiration, then they can become anything they want.

Rus Bradburd, along with former Miner basketball player and current Miner basketball radio commentator Steve Yellen, and his wife Tracy, have been helping deliver this message to kids ages 6-10 for the past 15 years. “We’re like Baskin and Robbins,” says Rus about collaborating with Steve Yellen on this great El Paso tradition.

This tradition was started to honor the late Rocky Galarza, who was a championship boxer and a great friend of Russ Bradford; but most importantly he was a great leader in the community. Galarza trained kids for free from the Segundo Barrio on how to become boxers themselves. After Rocky Galarza passed away, Rus founded Basketball in the Barrio to keep Galarza’s legacy alive in El Paso.

Price’s Creamery has also played a huge role in helping keep Galarza’s legacy alive; they are the main sponsor of Basketball in the Barrio. “They’re the best community first company in America and I love their chocolate milk!” says Steve Yellen. The organization turned to Price's, and not a sports-associated sponsor like Nike or Gatorade, as to maintain the altruistic philosophy of the camp and no veer into a competition-based foundation.

“We don’t want any competition, because the kids aren’t old enough to be competing, plus competition would discourage them,” says Bradburd. Competition might take away from the message and meaning of Basketball in the Barrio.
“We want the kids to understand their roots, to think they’re cool, and to get interested in them,” he adds.

Local El Pasoan Jose Luis Martinez brought his son Louis Alejandro and his cousin Anyssa out to Basketball in the Barrio for this very reason; “How many other weekends do they get to see folklorico, play basketball, and do arts and crafts.”

Folklorico and arts and crafts at a basketball camp? These were just some of the other activities held at the camp to further enhance the children with knowledge of their culture. Steve and Russ try to get young performers and guests to help out at the camp each year, to help the kids relate and believe that they can be just like them. “If they see you kids performing, they will get inspired and say why can’t I. Inspiring the kids is my favorite part,” says Yellen. Adds Bradford, “The best way for people to learn is from person to person.”

Former campers are now coaches and instructors at Basketball in the Barrio. Also even former NMSU and UTEP athletes come and help out at Basketball in the Barrio. Former UTEP three-point specialist Omar Duran has been helping out at the camp for the past three years. He says, “The kids have a good attitude, the atmosphere is good, and it just feels good being able to help and provide the kids with words of encouragement.” Omar Duran wasn’t not the only guest coach at this year’s camp.

Each summer Rus and Steve bring in a special guest to help teach and enlighten kids about culture in their own way. This year, Rus and Steve were lucky to have Robert “Bobbito” Garcia as their special guest speaker and entertainer.

Bobbito is a Puerto Rican DJ and a streetball legend from New York City. He co-hosted The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show which was named “Best Hip Hop Radio Show of All Time” by The Source Magazine. He has also influenced shoe culture; he hosted a show on ESPN called It’s the Shoes, and he even teamed with Nike to make his own limited edition Nike Air Force 1, “which is the greatest shoe ever,” says Bobbito.

Honored to follow in the footsteps of former guests such as Greg Foster, Bobbito says, “Its been a pleasure meeting people; I really like the diversity of El Paso and I like the people.”

Bobbito has performed in Madison Square Garden and at many major events, but he was actually kind of nervous having to perform for such a young audience; “I hope I don’t get booed off the stage,” he said right before he went out onto to the court to showoff his world famous basketball skills.

Bobbito’s performance was of course nothing short of spectacular. He had the whole audience clapping, cheering, and of course ooing and aahing at all of his spectacular moves. His show was also very interactive for the crowd; he selected campers to come out and play games with him and to assistant him in some of his more advanced moves; such as spinning a ball on the tip of a pen.

El Pasoan Michael Hernandez came to Basketball in the Barrio just to see Bobbito perform. “It’s not everyday that you get to see a legend perform in your own backyard,” he says.

“It was a ton of fun, it was one of my favorite performances of all time!” as he signed autographs and took pictures with kids and fans," Bobbito laughs.

Bobbito summed up Basketball in the Barrio the best by saying, “It’s incredible!” “Its message can be passed on to El Pasoans of all ages.”

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David Pacheco was born in San Jose, California, but has lived in El Paso for over 15 years. He's always dreamt of working at Disneyland as a Jungle Cruise Tour Guide, or working for ESPN as a writer. He graduated from UTEP in 2007 with a B.B.A. in Computer Information Systems, and he's never tasted a slice of pizza that he didn’t like. This is his first venture into writing, which we hope will help him reach his ultimate goal of one day becoming a career sports writer.