N.I.K.E.-1 (Need 2 Increase Knowledge Everyday #1 Priority) Basketball Program's goal is to assist student-athletes, domestic or foreign, as they try to balance their needs to achieve educational excellence, with their desire to play and perfect their skills in the game of basketball. The organization seeks to prepare the student-athletes with the opportunities to flourish both in the classroom and on the basketball court.
It Happens To "The Best"
Monday, May 22
Administrators & Coaches for N.I.K.E.-1 Basketball Program Inc.
Bryan P. Griffith: Founder, CEO/President & Treasurer/Head Coach Dean A. Murray: V/P Player Personnel/Head Coach(Pro-Level) William Junie Sanders: V/P Marketing / Player Development Darnell Williams: V/P Player Personnel / Marketing
Tuesday, April 26
3 NEW INDUCTEES TO THE N.I.K.E.-1 HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2011
Over the past decade, there have been many quality additions to the NIKE-1 family and program. The following players possess the characteristics that qualifies them true champions and their commitment and dedication, hard work and basketball prowess have earned them the selection to the NIKE-1 H.O.F...... Garnett 'Big Ticket" Thompson Chudney Gray Lamont Jones Welcome and Thanks...
Saturday, April 8
MOTTO:
"PRACTICE is the Price of Mastery. Whatever you practice, over and over again becomes a new habit of THOUGHT and PERFORMANCE." -- Coach B...
Saturday, June 2
In 2010 "The New Order" continues...Be prepared for the resurgence of N.I.K.E.-1...THE DYNASTY
Wednesday, August 4
PROVING THAT IN 2010, WE ARE STILL THE PREMIER PRO/AM TEAM IN NEW YORK CITY...
N.I.K.E.-1 will face Gold's Gym in the 2010 Nike Pro-City Championship Game on Thursday August 5th @ Baruch College. N.I.K.E.-1 will be defending it's Championship while seeking an unprecedented 5th title in 6 yrs and its 3rd "REPEAT" performance. Despite losing 3 key players, Garnett, Jerel to overseas teams and C.J. Nike -1 still has the talent and swag of a CHAMPION...
Ty Grant, Darren "DP" Philip, Lamont Jones, Kavon Lytch, Rob Lwein, Junie Sanders, Chudney Gray, Nick Carter, Lloyd Clinton, Angelo Gordon, Jhon Singleton, Willie Deane, Charles Jones, Garnett Thompson, Jermain Abraham...
Friday, August 6
Being 2nd best is never good enough....
N.I.K.E.-1 failed in it's bid to repeat as Champions in the 2010 Nike Pro-City Summer League...In what could be "The Legend" Junie Sanders final game NIKE-1 fell to Gold's Gym 118-90. Lack of a defensive presence from the guard positions caused the opposition (Gold's Gym) to shoot an impressive 59% from the field, as Andre Barrett 27pts (10-16) in 24 minutes. 'Dre shot an impressive 6-8 from behind the arc. Rashad Bell also score 22 pts for Gold's Gym. Junie Sanders was injured early on and played only 17 minutes scoring 5 points. A well deserved thanks go out to our life long fanbase for their support throughout the season...Thanks to the coaching staff for their tireless hard work.
Wednesday, August 4
***New 2010 Hall of Fame Inductee*** KAHEEM DRAPER...
This player was an instrumental part of the success and development of N.I.K.E.-1 (It was a gross injustice waiting so long to add him to the elite status that he rightly deserves). Kaheem Draper AKA "Rookie", didnt take long to prove that he was no rookie...Belated WELCOME kid....Coach B...
N.I.K.E.-1 Basketball Program Inc. continues in its effort to assist athletes from developing nations, by inviting selected foreign born players to our Training and Developmental Workout Sessions, in addition these few selected players may get the opportunity to distinguish themselves with an opportunity to further demonstrate their skills and talent level by being invited to participate as a member of N.I.K.E.-1 in the upcoming Summer league Pro circuit. The training and workouts are in preparation for the upcoming 2010 Nike Pro City Summer League; The sessions stress the skills needed for Defense, Offense and Conditioning. During the camp there will be an opportunity to be selected to play for NIKE-1 for the season, and gain the much needed exposure for future professional assignments both in the USA and abroad (Europe/Asia/South America) or be offered college scholarships to a top level academic institution. All participation is by invitation only. There is NO COST for the selected participants!!!
Bunja Yaboe 6'9" (The Gambia)
Foreign invitee is expected to arrive no later than March 15th 2010
The invited foreign player will be accomodated with room, board and transportation, in addition any unforseen occurance such as medical, etc... will be handled by the efforts of N.I.K.E.-1 Basketball Program Inc.
N.I.K.E.-1 also works in conjunction with an affiliate "Big Apple Sports Inc." also co-founded by Bryan griffith with Tom "Tippy" McTernan...In April the Annual Big Apple Sports JUCO Showcase (2010), will take place in New York City @ City College of N.Y., where over 100 college coaches from Texas, Kansas, California, New York, Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona, Baltimore, New Jersey...all come looking for talent...One player of advanced interest is from the caribbean island of Trinidad & Tobago, this young man all 6'7" (Shooting Guard) will be on display...Jamar George will be looking for scholarship offers, please contact N.I.K.E.-1 or Big Apple Sports Inc. for further info on all participants.....
Good luck to all and remember "Come ready to learn, acquire and perform... "
Coach / Founder
Bryan Griffith
N.I.K.E-1 Basketball Program Inc.
HANGING ON
Tuesday, February 3
NIKE-1 foreign players with Star Potential
Bunja showing his "ups"
NIKE-1 new discoveries in the African nation of Gambia. Introducing Bunja Yaboe AKA "Air-Bun" is an athletic 21 year old 6'8" Foward/Center and Alasana Ceesay AKA "MOLIFA" who is 20 years old 6'7" and plays the Foward position from The Gambia...These two solid young players have great upsides, having trained under the guidance of former NBA and NY KNICKS Player Jerrod Mustaf...Currently playing on the Gambian National Team, Bunja has earned the reputation as one of his nation's top players. Bunja is looking to display his vast talent & skills at a CAMP in the USA this year...Meanwhile Alasana has found an opportunity in The United Kingdom...Good Luck "Molifa"
Jamar George, 18 yrs old and standing 6'7" is a shooting guard...he resides currently in the paradisic islands of Trinidad and Tobago. that is where he continues to demonstrate his basketball prowess, soon he plans to put those skills on display at the Big Apple Sports Showcase and as advertised he will be auditioning for the collegiate stage. With continued hard work Jamar will soon realize his dream: One day, being able to perform on the professional stage...Good Luck Jamar.... Jamar arrives in NYC in March 2010 to participate in the Annual Big Apple Sports JUCO Showcase (Co-Founder by Coach Griffith)...please click or paste (in your browser) the following link http://www.newsday.co.tt/sport/0,117921.html
Hamou "Papsoum" Soumare a 6'7" slim player from Mali, West Africa has arrived in the USA looking for the opportunity to participate on the JUCO level. papsoum has some skills that most coaches would love to further develop and enhance. Athletic and possessing penchant for hard work. Pap is also a solid student in the classroom. At present pap is attending iowa university parttime and will look to join a solid JUCo program.
Update: Hamou "Papsoum" is currently on Kirkwood CC (Ia) listed @ 6'8" 220lbs I am sure hamou will develop into a fine player for his upcoming Soph year.
Sunday, November 8
N.I.K.E.-1 has good young player from Ghana
Christopher Angsomwine (above) came in from Ghana for the 2007 Christmas Holidays. During this visit he was observed by the NIKE-1 coaches and they were pleased with what they saw. Chris showed a great understanding of defense and playing the post position on defense. He must however learn to become more aggresive in learning to be an offensive threat, especially as a post player. Chris will develop his physique and when that occurs he will be a surprise to many who may have doubts about his potential. Chris is now a member of the kilgore J.C. (Tx). he is a soph, with solid academic numbers and will certainly be an asset to Kilgore in their quest for prominence in the tough Texas JUCO league.
Jacob waiting on the opportunity...
Thursday, February 28
N.I.K.E.-1 branching out to the Regions of Africa
Le programme de basket-ball de N.I.K.E.-1 a activement travaillé pour ajouter l'Africain (travaillant durement) les joueurs à son programme.
{N.I.K.E.-1 Basketball Program Inc. has been actively working to add African (hard working) players to its Program}. One player of particular interest is an athletic 6'4" Shooting Guard / Small Forward (Yacouba Doumbia) known as "Jacob". Jacob is currently attending a sports institute in Mali. He is looking to arrive in the USA soon to further his academics at a Prep school or a top JUCO program with the assistance of NIKE-1 Basketball Program and look to reach his basketball potential.
Jacob's favorite player is Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs).
Un joueur d'intérêt particulier est "la garde un 6'5 de tir/petit en
avant (Yacouba Doumbia) connu sous le nom de" Jacob ". Jacob sert
actuellement un institut de sports au Mali. Il regarde pour arriver
aux Etats-Unis à autre ses universitaires un programme du dessus JUCO
et pour regarder pour atteindre son potentiel de basket-ballavec l'assistance de Programme de Basket-Ball NIKE-1.
Le joueur préféré de Jacob est Tony Parker (les Éperons de San Antonio)
Jerel Blassingame is having a Super -Soph Season in Europe having been crowned the "Guard of the Year" in Sweden. Jerel had similar accolades in his "rookie" year in 2005-06 in Cyprus...additionally you can read more on Jerel as he put up big numbers playing in Israel at the latter part of the 06-07 season...
Paste the following link to your browser or click to view box scorehttp://www.safsal.co.il/eboxscore.aspx?id=7718
Please click on headline for information on Ramon Clemente
Friday, February 22
NIKE-1's Daily Quotes to live by:
"Fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me" - M.J. #23 "There is WINNING and there is MISERY." -- Bill Parcells "There is something that is much more scarce, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability." Robert Half "It doesn't matter who scores the points, it's who can get the ball to the scorer." -- Larry Bird "Excellence is not an Act, but a Habit." -- Aristotle "Our Attitude is the primary force that will determine whether we Succeed or Fail." -- John C. Maxwell "Courage is Resistance to Fear, Mastery of Fear, not Absence of Fear."-- Mark Twain "Some people dream of SUCCESS while others stay up and work hard at it." - Unknown "The failure to prepare is preparing to fail..." READ - RECOGNIZE - REACT - THE THREE "Rs" "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." - John Wooden
N.I.K.E.-1 demonstrated their resilience and toughness by dominating a team (united brooklyn) that professed to be of championship caliber. That thought was quickly put to rest as this new "Dynasty" displayed skill, chemistry and mental and physical superiority over every team for the 3rd consecutive year. The team consisting of Junie, Tyrone, DP (MVP), Garnett, Charlie, Mookie, Chudney, Marvin, Alex, Nigel, Rob, Zach all contributed toward this dominant performance resulting in a 103-83 classic of historic proportion. Defense has always been the staple of the N.I.K.E.-1 dynasty, that has resulted in many championships throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan. Coach Dean Murray has positioned himself amongst the top coaches in the game by leading Nike-1 to a historic "three-peat". Congratulations to all players and a special thanks to all our faithful fans and supporters...
Coach Bryan
Coach and Player
Sunday, February 11
Keeping an eye on that NIKE-1 Talent
Coach Bryan has been coaching for over 2 decades now and still enjoys to see his players perform. An example is Tyrone Grant who continues to display that talent that caught the eye of coach Bryan some 16 years ago. Tyrone, Junie, Garnett, Charles and the rest of the team along with head coach Dean Murray plan to defend that consecutive championship streak @ Nike Pro City Classic in 2007...Stay tuned...
Friday, August 11
NIKE-1 repeats as Nike Pro City Champions...
The encore was another stellar defensive effort fueled by John "Mookie" Thomas...after shutting down the Ron Artest PDG team on August 8th. Nike-1 held Gold's Gym to a "stingy" 18 points in the 4th quarter of the championship game on august 10th...MVP Garnett Thompson led Nike-1 players with a double double putting in a super performance 30pts and 11 rebs. and many highlight dunks and a crowd pleasing rejection of a Joe Forte dunk attempt. Tyrone Grant, Charles Jones, Chudney Gray, Junie Sanders and Zach Williams all delivered helping the champs to repeat. As coach Dean Murray stated that the result was never in doubt as "the outcome was already written" and so as it is written so let it be done.
I wish to thank all of our season long supporters as well as lifelong fans for your unconditional support over the years...Coach B
Junie Sanders continues to show that he is a superstar player. While leading a team of young and inexperienced players Junie continues to demonstrate skill and leadership qualities. Junie is scoring 17ppg in 32 minutes per contest (53% FG Pct.) and 74% from the charity stripe and dishing out 4 assists per game. These quality numbers prove that the Legend lives...
Tyrone Grant, 6'7 has adjusted to life after college,after being signed by the Charlotte Hornets. Ty has previously played for The Trenton Stars of the IBL. In 1999 Tyrone was the #1 selection of the Brooklyn Kings of the USBL.After a successful 1st year in Italy and return from a hand injury Ty again continues to display his skills in Italy playing for the club Olimpia Milano "The legend continues"....
Ty owns this real estate...
Monday, May 22
N.I.K.E.-1 reaches out to the Mother-Land...giving others an opportunity...
In keeping with the "Need 2 Increase Knowledge Everyday"...N.I.K.E.-1 has in place an individual who keeps the focus of looking to educate and develop student athletes the world over. NIKE-1 has extensive knowledge of the basketball situation in Africa regarding the athletic development of "Talented" Basketball Players from Nigeria to Senegal,Gambia,Ghana and Mali...It is a pleasure to have a player like Seun Akinwale on board as our liason in Africa and he will be responsible for making positive moves to assist NIKE-1 in placing student athletes in High Schools, Universities and Colleges in the US.
Keeping in tune with N.I.K.E-1 attempts to have a wider global base. A new addition to the NIKE-1 family is Seun Akinwale from Nigeria 6'4" Shooting Guard with very good offensive ability but a super defensive player that is looking to further his development in a College/University in the USA. NIKE-1 Basketball Program continues in its effort to assist all players with the desire and will to work hard to reach their goals in life. Click on headline to view Seun's page for further information.
Player of the Year: Jerel Blassingame Guard of the Year: Jerel Blassingame Newcomer of the Year: Jerel Blassingame Import Player of the Year: Jerel Blassingame
1st Team
Frankie King Jerel Blassingame(All Import Team, All Newcomers Team)
Wykeen Kelly
Milutin Aleksic
George Banks
Monday, August 4 "NIKE-1 LEGEND FINALLY GET HIS DUE" "Junie" Sanders is The King Of NYC Basketball...finally recognized officially by the sports world..Junie ...
Check out our "News" Page
Please check out additional articles on current N.I.K.E.-1 players in school and playing professionally abroad....
Wednesday, January 31
N.I.K.E.-1 Alumni Players (Hall of Fame in Italics)
Junie Sanders (University of Central Oklahoma / Pro - Argentina)
Tone Springer (Salem Int'l University)
Dean Murray (Onondaga C.C)
Rashid Pinckney (Potsdam State University) Fred Brown
Dayan Murray (Kingsborough C.C.) Harrington Williams
I-Quan D.Wiggins Darnell Williams (Xavier University) Tyrone Grant (St. John's University / Pro - Italy)
Garnett Thompson (Providence College / Pro - Poland)
Ed "Booger" Smith (Arizona Western JC)
William “Smush” Parker (Fordham University / NBA - LA Lakers / Miami Heat Jerel Blassingame (U.N.L.V.)/ Pro - Cyprus / Greece / Israel Kaheem Draper (Rookie)
Marvin Gay
James Clark
Rob Lewin (Troy State) / Pro - Spain
James Williams(Buffalo State)
Terrell Hightower Andre Duke
Rashid Isler
Terrell Robinson (PS 263)
Tyrell Slater
Jason McLeod
Kaleef McLeod
Malcolm Connor (ABA-Gallup Talons)/Chile
Dewayne Merit
Tamir Smith
Chinyere Vann (The only female player ever to play and start for NIKE-1)
Shawn Mark
John “Slim” Jones
Kareem “Slim” Lloyd (Boise State University) Seldon Jefferson (West Virginia University)
Rodney Seale
Karim Telfer (Augusta State University)/ Pro-Romania
Yacouba "Jacob" Doumbia (Mali, West Africa)
Trevor Breland (Ventura College, CA)
Miguel Andrews (Pro - Venezuela)
Ramon Clemente (Paris JC / Wichita St. University)
Timothy Williams*
Sequan Denson
Robert Mitchell (Alan Houston) Philip Cameron Eric Lilly
Anthony Cameron (North Country CC)
Dwayne Marshall (Cal State Fullerton)
Travis Billy
Justin Bright
Gerald Garner Shawn Richards
Lamar Phillip
Steven Brignol (Globe Tech)
Allen Griffin (Syracuse University)/(Asst. Coach Providence)
Shameel Carty* Lucas Henry Andrew Gould (Genessee C.C.)
Curtis Outten (Glendale CC, CA)
Keenan Givens
Zach Williams (Pro-Overseas)
Devon Millar
Rashein Little
Robert Ross
Duval Taylor
Adedokun Olanrewaju Andre Rivera
Lloyd Clinton
Darius Waters Mike Lee (SUNY Canton)
Melvin Rivers
Shaun Russell
Willie Johnson Ricardo Durrant
Lazarus Williams
Dave Campbell
Tesfa Hamilton Charles Jones (LIU - Chicago Bulls)
Lamont Jones (University of Bridgeport)
Tony Slater (Florida Pit Bulls - ABA)
Troy Marcus
Marcus Archer
Jamel Potts
Anderson Labaze (F.I.T.)
Bunja Yaboe (Gambia, Africa)
Alasana Ceesay (Gambia, Africa/U.K.)
Jermaine Abraham
Luis Charles (Gloucester CC)
Prince Abidoye* (Ventura College)
Salif Kante* (South Shore H.S.)
Mike Thompson (Pro-Mexico)
Kevin Gilbert
Joseph Miller
Nigel Byam* (Carl Albert State College, OK - St. Francis)
Anthony Soares* (Chaffey College, CA)
Rashaun Banjo (Pro - Chile)
Akim Neverson
Angelo Whitehead* (Ventura College)
Sean Watson
Donny Lyons
Karl Sanders
John Thomas (Mookie)
Sulayman Bah (South Shore H.S. / Victory Collegiate)
Chudney Gray (St. Johns University) Ronay Waterton D.L. Samuels Justice Graham (LACity) Nolan Bartholomew
Melshawn Scott
Sammy Obetoh
* PLAYER IS CURRENTLY ATTENDING HIGH SCHOOL / COLLEGE or UNIVERSITY
Teddy impacted my life one summer morning at Wingate Park as I was preparinbg for practice with my younger age team (N.I.K.E.-1)...from that day on he was a great source of advise and mentoring as well as a teacher in all forums. I made it mandatory that each day when he came by that my players and I would spend the required time "listening" to Mr. Vann before we practice. I was also introduced to my 1st and only female player Chinyere...I will miss you dearly my friend...R.I.P.
"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach
them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow
where they may lead." - Louisa May Alcott
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