SPRINGFIELD – Children at Freedman Elementary School got a treat on Wednesday when Harlem Globetrotter Brawley (“Cheese”) Chisholm stopped by to dazzle them with his fancy basketball moves while giving them a lesson in bullying prevention.
Founded in the 1920s, the Harlem Globetrotters are a world-renowned team who combine basketball skills with comedy and showmanship.
The school presentation, titled “The ABCs of Bullying Prevention,” was designed by the Globetrotters in collaboration with the National Campaign to Stop Violence. Chisholm was also scheduled to present it at Lynch Elementary School later.
At Freedman, he told the kids that the first three letters of the alphabet can stand for three anti-bullying strategies: action, bravery and compassion.
“Bullies love attention,” Chisholm told the kids, “so don’t pay attention to them. Stay away from rumors, lies and gossip.”
More than 200 little ones had gathered for his presentation. Since audience participation is a hallmark of the Globetrotters, Chisholm had them on their feet in no time.
First he called for three volunteers to come up and stand in the shape of the letters A, B and C. A was easy, as he molded a little boy into a triangle by planting his legs firmly apart.
B was a little more difficult. Chisholm went for a lower-case b, asking the boy to lie on the floor (the audience got up to watch) and create the stem of the letter by poking his legs in the air.
Chisholm also pulled children into a “magic circle” to teach them tricks. “We’ve been doing it for 87 years,” said the youthful Chisholm, who was decked out in a red-white-and-blue sweatsuit.
Tall and thin, with a movie-star smile, the 26-year-old is a graduate of Ball State University in Indiana.
When he asked for a teacher to volunteer for the circle, the children rose immediately and pointed to fifth-grade teacher Maris Joniec. Cheers accompanied him to the front of the room.
Chisholm taught each child in the circle a trick – passing the ball behind the back or under a bent knee, bouncing it off the head. When he got to Joniec, Chisholm added a little hip action, which drove the children wild.
Another game involved throwing the ball back and forth until the kids – and third-grade teacher Robin Foulkes – eliminated themselves by dropping it.
The last person standing was a little girl. Chisholm told her to point her finger upward. He spun the ball on the tip of his own finger and then transferred it to the child’s finger, where the ball continued to spin magically.
The Globetrotters plan to take “The ABCs of Bullying Prevention” to over 300 schools and youth centers.