Her Game Sports Supports Frontline ER Nurse Veronica and Reni Johnson!
Erik dedicates this feature story to Bleacher Report writer Mirin Fader who inspired him to "write feel good stories about people."
Former President Barack Obama recently tweeted that we should all show some love to first responders. They’re risking their lives to save us all for goodness sake!
Are you, my fellow citizens, tired of Social Distancing? We abide, knowing it’s needed to save lives. We feel more isolated than ever, am I right?
But no virus can hold us back from being caring, sweet, or loving. The virus can’t stop us humans from showing humanity, showing love.
Example?
You readers might remember I wrote a HUGE story on 8th grade hoop phenom Reni Johnson (think female version of Skyy Clark, we all fam).
Reni’s mom Veronica Johnson is a super caring and expert nurse who saves lives, talks people into doing right with that silver tongue of hers. Teenage girls will walk away from their pimps as she guides them to positive choices in life, that’s real!
Why celebrate Veronica? Veronica does more than just put food on the table for 8th grade daughter Reni and her 9th grade son Isaiah. She’s more than just a super single-mom working 6 days a week, she worked over 70 hours this week. Sheeesh that’s rough!
As a nurse, Veronica’s not just curing the sick - she also translates in Spanish for the doctors and nurses, and she finds time to keep her kids training in hoop, grindin’ and acquiring skills.
All in the face of a daunting loooong week on her feet.
How many of us put in that kind of work, that wear and tear on the bod? In a hazmat suit no less, and then she takes 30 minutes to wash every possible micron of a germ off her body upon collapsing at home.
How many of us help frontline clients, even when those possible sick clients might just pass you off a death sentence? That’s worthy of putting a fist up in the air for V-Johnson, a real American hero to celebrate!
How touched was I, E-Woods, when I had a friend show me a photo of Desiree Ale, who runs the amazing Her Game Sports that encourages young girl ballers to be mentored by middle school and prep young women ballers?
Desiree (called Dez by her friends) stopped by V-Johnson’s hospital to offer flowers, a monster energy drink, and a Snickers to show love, to say we care the utmost for you, woman.
How dope was that, right there in the ER, as the photo shows.
This 20 something Dez, she’s super swag, oozes a welcoming vibe. She’s this genuine old soul, that hip girl supreme. Dez took time out of her day to show love to Veronica; if only the reader could’ve seen the whole ER erupt in hard clapping at Dez’s gesture of care.
#Epic moment in time
That’s what we need to hear more of. We all watch the media for updates on the coronavirus and we’re shown these sobering images and stats on TV.
But we all need to believe that human grace still exists during this absolute nightmare we’re forced to endure. Even if we’re not directly affected, we all will be affected by this indirectly.
We need to see that good people will again run their dope clinics, that we’re all waiting to send our kids to good places run by good people. How many of us cry because our kids are being denied that feeling of unity these last couple weeks? Too many.
I also had in mind when writing this feature to impart advice to hopeful college hoop prospects when normalcy returns, whatever normal will look like.
Many kids are not working out, getting outta shape. No offense but that translates into working backwards. Get yourself out to the park if you, or your kid is to be a true baller. Get them a safety escort that watches them do b-ball drills alone, no groups suggested.
Try to get shots up, perfect your handles. Don’t hold yourself back, because us talent evaluators like me, E-Woods, us scouts and college coaches will be able to tell in seconds, no in milliseconds, if a kid hasn’t been grindin’.
That’s the gauntlet, the cold hard truth. If you want someone to tell you to take off 2-3 months and get back on it when this blows over, that’s not me. I don’t BS, I’m real, I try to be a real one in a world unfortunately of flakes and fakes.
The good news is that when we return to normal, we’ll know more about terrific programs like Her Game Sports, of which the clinics are only a portion of. I’ve been following them for the last 4 months.
Here’s a lil secret: Dez has the most mad crazy talented, yet sweet trainer running lay-up lines for lil ones. Most kids are like 5-10 year olds. I don’t have enough time to point out each dope kid in this Her Game photo.
But trust me, imagine the most sweet, most talented kids helping other younger kids get good, get really, really good because they’ll share the secret sauce to being the ultimate baller.
In this photo I see like 3-4 of these kids easily making the McDonald’s All American squad.
So imagine how valuable it is that these young girls are doing incredible work in these clinics. It’s like a mini girl version of my guy Pooh Jeter’s Hometown Favorites, where 20 NBA legends are helping much younger ones. I don’t say that this lightly.
A special mention goes out to the expert video technician Chris Brown and his biz Nutty Bros. You the reader must see this vid, it lights the heart up like a million watt bulb, big-time, click it, dare you not to smile your face off people!
So hold on, go out and safely give a gift of love to a first responder, in safe mode, not getting too close people. But go for it, they need a shot in the arm!
Enough E-Woods, I’m blah, blah, blah too much anyway. Lol. Hear what Veronica thought of Dez stopping by, “Her doing this for me was big. She stayed with Reni and did tik tok dances yesterday, goofy fun girl stuff, real friend things that keep our hearts light and loved.
“Dez showed me that all us frontline workers are cared for. My coworkers couldn’t stop talking about it, they felt so embraced along with me. It wasn’t my birthday or a special occasion, just a special person thought of me, brought joy to our doorstep via gifts of the heart.”
Dez says this of her motivation, “Veronica inspires many, she’s doing all this work to get us healthy. I appreciated her sense of genuine real kindness to her patients and I had to reach out and show love.
“Her kid, Reni Johnson, like so many in our Her Game clinics is oh so sweet. Reni has the unique ability to make people smile, feel uplifted, and to play ball really hard, and with great skill.”
Talking to Veronica, Reni, Dez, I see them all take seriously the need to keep fit during these trying times. I see Reni grindin’ with her beyond awesome trainer, Rob Valentine who is world renown for training people to be their best, be that any level.
Rob helps keep WNBA and ultra pro dudes icy in skill and mentality. He’s trying to keep Reni up to par as much as she’ll go in the lab in these rough times that try all our hearts with challenges.
What’s the takeaway from this story?
Don’t stop training to be The Takeover but keep grindin as Reni is. She’s running up and down inside her apartment stairs for exercise. Don’t stop sharing your heart, that’s what Dez showed us all, this epic photo of true altruistic love.
Don’t stop believing that the public cares. That’s what Veronica Johnson must realize as she keeps it all together, even when the wheels feel like they’re going to come off.
I love what Dez has to share with us all, “We are all in this together. We need to support each other any way we can and recognize the ones who are out there in the field.
"No time to be selfish but do our part in our community. Stay positive, stay safe, wash our hands regularly, stay home and act accordingly.”