Sitting at home early one morning, the phone rang before 8 a.m. My first thought was it is probably a scam caller; my second thought was a family member.
My third thought was, if it’s a family member something must be wrong because my family generally don’t call so early. They know if I work, I work late into the night while they are sleeping so at 7:45 a.m. I got worried.
I picked up my phone and was pleasantly surprised to hear it was Harlem Globetrotter Mia Hopkins.
Mia was calling me from France, where there was a bit of a time difference, and she thought it was a bit later in the morning.
After she apologized for the early call, I asked her where she was phoning me from. Her response was France. “Yeah but where in France?” I asked. “I don’t really know,” was her response.
So naturally we both laughed, but she was dead serious. She literally had no idea what town or city she was in.
Being at the end of a 30-day European tour with basically one day off, it’s not hard to believe she really had no idea of her location.
When she described her day, it sounded like a scene from the movie “Groundhog Day” starring Bill Murray, when he played a reporter covering the groundhog’s prediction at Punxsutawney.
The premise of the movie is something happens along the way and Murray is in a time warp. Every day he wakes up, it’s Groundhog Day. You can see where I’m going with this with Mia.
I told her I’ve heard rock stars say the same thing when they tour, never knowing what city they were in.
It’s a heckuva way to make a living, but Mia is having a great time and she’s very aware this is her time to shine and she’s not taking anything for granted.
She’ll admit, at times her life was all over the place, but if there’s anything she did know, basketball was her life and she did it well — damn well. She proved that in high school, scoring 1,000 points for Pittston Area.
She went on to play in college and she always had her sights on playing professional basketball in the WNBA.
Mia gave it a shot and when she couldn’t land a tryout with a pro team, she headed to Europe to play pro ball there in hopes she could improve her craft enough to make her way back to the states to once again give it a shot with the WNBA.
After moving among a few teams in Europe, it didn’t pan the way she hoped and she headed back to Texas were she trained and kept the faith in her dream.
A very serious injury occurred and the thought of playing basketball, pro or on the street corner court, was not looking good.
It was during her rehab when she received a call to try out for the legendary Harlem Globetrotters team.
She eventually made her way to Wildwood, N.J., where she had her tryout, not clear how she would hold up physically after the injury. She ended up crushing it.
Mia signed her contract and became an official member of the Globetrotters.
Initially, it was a slow go and she needed to get acclimated to her new role, and at the time she wasn’t sure what it would be.
She pitched in from time to time on any of the three touring teams until she ended up with her assignment that took her to Europe.
Her first big taste of being on the famed team, a game was set up at the Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza in February. I was lucky enough to be there and it was so much fun to watch her in action, getting her moment in the sun, knowing all of the hard work she put on the court had paid off.
Even at that game, she sort of was winging it because of the newness, but it was all good.
So many people from Greater Pittston were on hand for the game and it was going to take a lot to wipe the smile off of Mia’s face for the entire two hours.
Since being on tour in Europe, Mia’s role has been more defined and she has been posting videos and photos on social media of her journey. I admit it’s been great fun to live vicariously through her.
She’s been having great success, her shooting became more and more confident and by the end of the tour, I could tell how she matured into the role.
Somehow Mia gets to mix being a basketball player and an entertainer.
Mia later called me from Spain and I could tell by her voice, she wants to do more in her role and she want to branch out with her brand but most of all, she wants to give back and that’s really important to her. She’s on a mission, she has a plan and she’s determined.
I’m sure we will see her sometime this summer and there’s a good chance she’ll have a basketball in her hand.
Quote of the week
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because I see everything else.” – C.S. Lewis
Thought of the week
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” – Roald Dahl
Bumper stick
“I used to believe in forever, but forever’s too good to be true.” – A.A. Milne
