Milwaukee Bucks Assistant Coach Vin Baker provides new shoes for local aspiring athletes

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Milwaukee Youth Sports Alliance partnered up with former NBA player and Milwaukee Bucks Assistant Coach Vin Baker for a shoe drive Saturday, Jan. 18, making sure every kid has a pair of sneakers ready for the court or the field.

"We wanted to make sure kids had shoes to be able to participate in sports," said Quentin Prince, the executive director of the Milwaukee Youth Sports Alliance. "One of the things that we often find as the Milwaukee Sports Alliance is that kids don’t have access to certain things, or they might have barriers financially."

Dozens of kids flocked to the court ready to dunk and were excited to meet Coach Vin Baker.

"Any kind of advice, or anything I can give to them that can help them in their growth as human beings, as young adults, I'm glad to do that," said Baker.

Baker collected shoes for the young aspiring athletes, making sure every kid received a new pair of shoes to help them succeed.

"Giving back to our community and most importantly our kids," said Baker. "When I was growing up, I couldn’t find the proper sizes and for whatever reason, my parents couldn’t get the sneakers I wanted to get."

Baker provided more than just sneakers, giving the kids some advice on and off the court.

"The number one thing is to have fun, to go outside pick up a bat, pick up a football, pick up a baseball, shoot basketball," said Baker. "Get off the social media a little bit and go outside and enjoy life. There's so much to offer, it's how we became pros."

The young athletes were nothing but smiles while making some new friends along the way.

"It was a great experience just to come in here and listen to a great athlete talk," said Kevin Wright, athlete. "A great opportunity just to learn some things about the journey and just the experience of being a professional athlete."

The event ended up having such a good turnout that Baker had to order more shoes to be delivered to the kids to make sure everyone could get what they needed.