The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER spending considerable time on the road competing as a professional basketball player, birthday boy JR Cadot has decided to come back home and provide some opportunities for more Bahamian players to get their exposure.

Here since he last played in Asia about seven months ago after the coronavirus pandemic increased, Cadot said he has had a change of heart about playing the game and has decided to team up with Apostle Carlos Reid in forming the King’s Sons Basketball Academy.

Cadot, celebrating his 34th birthday today, said the whole idea is to prepare the young boys and girls mentally to go off to school and compete. “We just don’t want them to get there, but that they will stay there once they get there,” he said. “Having experienced it all playing for the basketball at both the junior and men’s division, in college and on the professional ranks, I learnt a lot. So I want to share all of those experiences with the kids here so when they get there, they will be prepared for what’s to come. King’s Sons is a place where these kids will be mentored and their mindset transformed.”

King’s Sons has already been launched with about six competitors at the Hope Center with sessions currently conducted on the weekends.

Hopefully when the summer starts, sessions will be held during the week days.

It is designed for boys and girls between the ages of 12-19 years. Apostle Reid said there will be a charge, but they have not decided on the fee.

“We want to be able to help kids. That’s the bottom line,” Apostle Reid said. “But when you look at a person like JR, who will be mentoring these kids, he still has a family to take care of.

“So we will find a way to make it a worthwhile experience for everybody. He has a wealth of experience having travelled and played in over 15 different places around the world. So he brings a wealth of experience with him.”

And as a former basketball player and gang leader turned preacher, who operates the Youth Against Violence Organisation, Apostle Reid said it’s persons like Cadot who can create something that can help more young people.

“We are in a country where gang violence is prominent,” said Apostle Reid, the founder of the Hope Center.

“We need persons that can help a lot of parents who have problem kids to help steer them away from these anti-social behaviours.

“I believe that basketball is a good medium to do that. With the King’s Sons, we will be doing that. We will have people who will work with them with the school work and external exams and we will have coaches in the United States, who will be looking at getting them to play at the next level.”

Cadot, a product of CV Bethel High School, said he has several division one coaches and a person who operates an NBA Academy, who are all willing to assist the local players in the King’s Sons Academy.

“I didn’t have all of this help when I was playing, so I had to go and get it,” he said.

“Having gone through it, I hope to take these young children through the steps so they can avoid the mistakes that I made.

“And the connections that I have overseas will be able to help them as they will get the opportunity to get the exposure that they need. I just want to give them the opportunities that I didn’t have.”

After graduating from CV Bethel in 2006, Cadot went on to play for Sheridan Community College in Wyoming where he was an All-American before he transferred to Texas Christian University.

At the completion of his collegiate sting, Cadot worked out for the Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls with the view of earning a spot on a team in the National Basketball Association (NBA). That opportunity didn’t materialise for Cadot, so the 6-foot, 5-inch shooting guard/small forward took his talent to Europe where he played as a pro for seven years, a journey he started in 2012.

“It was awesome. I’ve been able to travel the world,” he insisted. “Your gift will make room for you. That is what I want these kids to know.

“They have to allow the gift of God that is deposited in them to make room for them. That is why I am here to open doors for these kids that were not opened to them.”

As a prime example of one whose gifts made room for him, Cadot said he was afforded scholarships to attend junior college and then division one that would have caused his parents (Mary Cadot and the late Michelet Thomas) more than $100,000 and they didn’t have to pay a dime of it.

Cadot, now married to Erlande Cadot), has also made his contribution to the success of both the junior and men’s national basketball teams.

“I’m just a humble young man, who made it out of the Bahamas and now I want to be able to give back,” he stated.