LOCAL HERO: Adonal Foyle

I love Oakland got a chance to find out a little more about Adonal Foyle of the 2007 Golden State Warriors.

ILO: Who is/was your role model while growing up?

AF: Growing up, Nelson Mandela was certainly someone I admired while living in the Caribbean. We were very connected to South Africa at the time, and he made a very big impact in my life. When I came of age in basketball, I admired players that I felt I could take something from and instill into my game. Hakeem Olajuwon was one of the players who embodied the principles of the game. It was always interesting to watch him and figure out what I could learn from him. I was definitely in awe of Magic Johnson and all the other great players of that time. Patrick Ewing was another one, as well as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish.

ILO: When was the first time you picked up a basketball and how did it happen?

AF: I grew up in a very small island, with about 500 people living there. When I first moved to a different island to go to high school everyone was telling me that I had to play basketball, because of my height-I was really tall! However, I didn’t know anything about basketball at the time. So, when I picked up a basketball for the first time (at age 15), they were telling me what to do and how to move. I remember grabbing my first rebound and running to the other side of the court and I forgot to dribble. I really made a fool of myself. At the time, I vowed never to go back to a basketball court. But I came back and worked hard to learn the game, and I’ve been doing that ever since, I’ve been in the league for 10 years. I continue to learn as much as I can.

ILO: After your first exposure to basketball, what did you think of the game at the time? Did you think basketball would pave the way to your future?

AF: I had no clue that this would pave the way to my future. At the time, I thought that it was going to be just a phase. I would play for a little bit. But after school was done, I thought I was going to be a fisherman or something. My family wasn’t really well off, I didn’t think I was going to have the opportunity to go to college, let alone get a college degree. So, I was planning to just work on a boat. But when the opportunity came to play basketball in the States, I jumped on it.

ILO: What gives you the drive and passion to give back to the community?

AF: You have to give back to a community that’s given a lot to you, in terms of fans paying money to watch you play. But more than that, as NBA players, we work in an environment where people take care of us. So, it’s imperative that we give back to them and tell them we care about what’s going on. For me, when you grow up in a small island, where everyone knows everyone, there is a need to be a community, and I grew up in a very, very small community. We had to work as a group in order to help each other. So, it’s a question of do you really believe in the notion of community? Dr. Martin Luther King talked about us as a global community and about the ability to reach out and help people in need, and that has to be the moral thing that we as people should do, and not just with athletes. In general, everyone should look out for their community. I believe it is our moral responsibility to help others.

ILO: What is your inspiration behind the Kerosene Lamp Foundation?

AF: Having created Democracy Matters and being able to give young people a voice in politics, specifically in campaign finance reform I felt that I needed to do something for the kids of the Caribbean as well as in New Orleans and eventually in Oakland. I felt that it was important that we create a community where we can teach kids basic things. And we can do it through sports. You have the ability through sports to really learn a lot of things. And when you put kids on a basketball court, you can teach them other things such as literacy as well as sports psychology. You can teach them how to exercise safe sex and the awareness of sexual transmitted diseases. We, as athletes, have the ability to teach them so much especially in the Caribbean, where there is a high rate of AIDS. There are so many things that are thrown to our kids, and we need to help provide them the tools for many challenges they will face in life. http://www.adonalfoyle.com/CR_kerosene_lamp_foundation.shtml

ILO: For aspiring kids who want to play in the NBA, what advice would you give them?

AF: Stay in school. The NBA is the elite of leagues. So you should create as many opportunities for yourself. You should continue to work hard and take care of your body. Obviously, don’t do drugs, and do the things needed in order to make you a great athlete. At the same time, you need to do the things that are going to help you become a good student. It has to be a dual path. You never know if your going to get hurt, and that is part of being an NBA player. If you get hurt, you can always have something to fall back on. So, my biggest thing would be not to put all your eggs in one basket. Continue to pursue a path of academic enrichment as well as that of basketball. The two paths are very important. And the kids must not forget that.