Page 4
June 13, 2018
More Than a Game
C ontinued froM f ront
Now I did great but if you can ex-
pose them at 15-16-17 years old,
that makes it even better,” he said.
Bowie, 31, is also an Adidas
trainer who hosts his own camps
worldwide to train clients from
high school to NBA players.
“Player development is crucial
for your AAU season because in
the summer, that’s when you get
better at any sport. If you’re just
playing games, games, games for
exposure it might be ok but you’re
not getting better at your individ-
ual skills. So that’s what we do
too,” he said.
Bowie appreciates the support
he’s received from parents and
some of the high school coaches
that he has worked with to recruit
participants. Two of his players
are from Sherwood High School,
located 32 miles southwest of
Portland, where Head Coach Ra-
him Tufts has been behind them
“100 percent,” a rare bid of sup-
port among high school and AAU
coaches, he said.
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Jamison Guerra, a sophomore
at Sherwood, is one of the top
point guards in the state, Bowie
said , and got invited to the 150
Phenom Invite Only, which is a
national youth basketball devel-
opment camp that has been known
to churn out hundreds of NBA
and collegiate players in the past.
Guerra will play at the 150 Phen-
om game in San Diego in August.
Dakota Reber, a sophomore
from Wilsonville, and Omari
Maulana, a freshman from Life
Christian Academy in Tacoma,
Wash. have both gotten interest
from Division I schools, Bowie
said.
He said Maulana, who was
named one of the top ninth grade
ball players in the state of Wash-
ington, went from being picked
on to getting invited to the Cross-
roads Invitation in Indianapolis,
an elite basketball camp for high
school freshmen and sophomores,
in Indiana, where he made it to the
championship game.
Bowie said he was inspired to
help kids reach their hoop dreams
from his own upbringing in Kan-
sas City, Kan.
“Wyandotte County [Kansas] is
a rough area. It’s not really condu-
cive to get out. And I say that be-
cause a lot of people just don’t get
help. People that made it before
me just don’t really help. And so...
with the family backing me, and
me making pro, I felt like if I give
them the blue print, then those
kids that’s playing under me and
those kids that I’m training can be
better than me and have an easier
road to go pro.”
Bowie, who developed a pas-
sion for basketball at an early age,
broke his high school’s scoring
record at Washington High School
in Kansas with 38 points in a game
against Olathe South High School
in Olathe, Kan. He went on to play
for Colby Community College in
Kansas, a Nation Junior College
Athletic Association First Divi-
sion school where he won numer-
his career.
The Adidas International Elite
16U team performed in an Adidas
Gauntlet tournament last month
where they walked away winning
three games and losing two. Lat-
er this month they will be playing
games in Canada, then In July
they will be heading to Wichita,
Kan., where they will play at the
Mullens Invitational competing
against the top 32 teams in the na-
photo by J eff h inds
Tacoma-based ninth grader Omari Maulana, who is part of
Nate Bowie’s Adidas International elite 16U team playing out of
Portland, was selected as one of the top ninth grade basketball
players in Washington, got an invite to an elite Crossroads bas-
ketball competition in Indianapolis, Indiana, and has already had
interest from college recruiters.
ous awards and distinctions from
2004-2006.
He then joined University of
Central Arkansas’s NCAA Di-
vision 1 team in 2006 where he
attained further accolades as a
high point scoring player before
beginning his professional bas-
ketball career with the Vancouver
BC Titans, in Canada, in 2008. He
was mostly known for playing the
point guard position throughout
tion.
After that, they’ll be driving up
to Bowie’s home town in Kansas
City where they’ll compete in the
Verbal Commits Sunflower Show-
case, a tournament that has hosts
elite basketball players for the
purpose of college recruitment.
The Elite team members will then
go back to their respective high
school teams when school ball
starts its regular season in the fall.