Q&A with Brooks & Summary of Basketball 101 for Women

As a bonus for attending the Rockets Basketball 101 for Women on Tuesday January 11th, the participants were allowed to go to a private meet and greet with Aaron Brooks after the Thunder game on Wednesday January 12th. The room was filled with mostly women and a few men taken as guests.
Brooks stepped into the room, we cheered and he went to the podium at the front of the room. He apologized for the loss that just happened and then the floor was opened up for the women to ask questions. I recorded some of it with my camera, but it died before he was finished. Here is a manuscript. This happened two nights after the awesome win in Boston so some of the questions pertain to it. I meant to post this sooner but didn't get around to it.

“you look like you have your zippy and speed back. Is your foot feeling pretty good?”
Brooks: It’s about 80 -90. It’s getting there.
“Do you enjoy playing against Nate Robinson? Does that kind of fuel you up?”
Brooks: (laugh) why do you say that?
“Well you guys are kinda like hometown buddies or rivals”
Brooks: Might be, might be a little rivalry. But you know me and Nate respect each other. We good friends. But on the court we’re all trying to (?) each other. You know there’s a lot of guys from Washington out there, we got a little rivalry going, but we got the win, third time in Boston, 3 year in a row, so if we play every game like we did in Boston, we’ll be a tough team.
“Where do you get your speed from?”
Brooks: my dad, my mom, my (?) . When I was little I played 2 years up. Everyone was always taller and faster so I found a way to get it done.
"How cool was it to win the Most Improved Player Award?"
Brooks: Um, that probably was my biggest award I’ve gotten since I’ve been playing basketball. To be recognized by the NBA, who doesn’t really recognize the Rockets, (Crowd laughs). you know for them to actually SEE, we’d have to come (by?) the game last year. (crowd laughs) I felt honored you know, it comes from your peers, from the players and coaches, so it means a lot to me.
"Will we see the fabulous famous Red blazer again? And Bowtie!"
Brooks: Bowtie? Uh,. Uh, (Brooks smiles) (Crowd laughs) Eventually… Playoffs… That’s my goal…When we get to the playoffs I’ll bring it back out.
My camera died afterwards so I don’t have an exact manuscript for the remainder.
How do you like playing alongside Lowry? Was asked. I don’t quite remember the response, but it was something about less pressure.
"What is your favorite venue to play in?"
Brooks: Staples Center. All of the celebrities. After a shot you look over and see Denzel. Last time we played there Chris Rock was there, I finally got to meet Chris Rock, and I DON’T look like him!

I really enjoyed the Q&A. Brooks is a pretty funny guy. That line about not looking like Chris Rock was golden. His line and delivery about the NBA not paying attention to the Rockets was great.

I had worn my Rockets red blazer and red bowtie that game knowing I’d see Brooks later. I had my blazer pocket signed by the Brooks and snapped a quick photo with him.

I’ll also give a summary of the Rockets Basketball 101 for Women because well 99% of you couldn’t attend the event because of your gender. It would be a great gift to get your sister/wife/girlfriend/mother in the future. The price includes a shirt, 2 tickets, and 2 entries to a Q&A and autograph session which means you could tag along to the game and Q&A.

We started off in some big room on the suite level and had those giant Toyota Center cookies and Papa John’s pizza. I love that Papa John’s is always the Rockets choice of pizza. I can’t wait to eat some after the Rockets Run tomorrow which you all should sign up for. The event started off with Patti Smith speaking. Patti Smith has been broadcasting the Rockets games for quite a few years, and it was interesting to hear her experience and stories of the Rockets players. I really liked the fact that she didn’t talk about how difficult it is to be a woman in the sports broadcasting industry. With that recent story about that one female news reporter in the NFL locker room, she could have easily taken that "poor me" approach. She said that it sometimes it is actually an advantage being a woman because men can be chivalrous and people are less likely to say no to a woman asking for an interview. She was pretty funny and even did a quick impression of Mutombo.

The second speaker was Samantha Hicks-Nila who used to be a trainer for the Comets and Rockets. I was interesting hearing here experiences about training, what they do when players get injured, and her experiences in the Rockets locker room with Rockets players being shirtless which definitely appealed to the female audience. As a female who is interested in the sports industry as a possible career path, it was great to hear these two women speak.

From there we split into three groups. We headed to the Toyota Center court and my group did some offensive drills with Coach Respert. We did some warm-up drills and then did some passing drills and some layup lines. It was pretty entertaining to see some of these women play basketball who I don’t think ever had in their life. Everyone seemed to have a good time though. Then we switched to the defensive side with Coach Gunning. We focused on the pick-and-roll defense, pretending we were Rockets and Celtics players from the night before. It was a great time getting to talk and hang with those 2 coaches and play around on the Rockets court.

The final thing my group did was tour the Lexus Lounge, Woodforest Club and THE LOCKER ROOM! I had seen the first 2 before but not the locker room. Scola had pictures of 2 of his boys in his locker and Shane Battier had a list of goals in his. It was signed in 08 and read something like “1.win a championship 2. Make it out of the second round 3. Win Defensive Player of the Year 4. Make All Defensive Team”. In a handful of the players’ lockers it had pictures and names of all of the NBA referees. Pictures were not allowed in the locker room, but what I would have taken pictures of would be the players’ shoes! There were sooo many shoes in there. I enjoyed seeing their shoes especially made for them that I have only seen up close with pictures on Clutchfans. In the locker room I got a chance to meet Adam Clanton from Channel 2. We follow each other on twitter, so we recognized each other. He interviewed me, and the story he did on the Women’s Basketball 101 clinic was show on Channel 2’s Sports Sunday last Sunday night.
Here are a few pictures

My red blazer I got signed:

Spoiler

Patti Smith speaking:

Spoiler

photo props to Adam Clanton's twitter

 

haha. yeah I'm sure there would be a HUGE turnout for Basketball 401 for women. lol. no but that would be fun. You and I, I guess, could play 1 on 1?? lol.

I wasn't frustrated with the women who didn't know much, so I don't think you would be. We didn't get to spend quite as much time on the court as I would have liked. There were women of all different ages so it was kind of expected that they would have different skill levels, and it wasn't like we were doing some serious drills. However, it would have been fun though to be put through a somewhat intense basketball practice.

Respert and Gunning both got some shout outs during the Grizzlies game. They both made the basketball 101 a lot of fun.

Battier is probably the female favorite, or at least has been in the past. New additions like Martin and Lee have been giving him some competition. A lot of females do like Brooks, Hayes, and Scola too. Battier just has that charm. .