Success took Jaylen Clark to the NBA, but every summer, the Riverside native returns to where his journey began to give back to the next generation.
The Minnesota Timberwolves guard recently hosted his fifth annual JRock Community Camp at UC Riverside. About 100 young athletes were invited to take part in this one-day event, where Clark spent time coaching and sharing lessons he learned throughout his basketball career.
“Oh, I think it’s everything because without our communities, we wouldn’t be anything. Those people that gave their time to help raise us and put their hard-earned money and stuff for us to play the sports without knowing where we’d end up or what we would become. I think that’s, like, everything, and that’s how the next generation keeps going.”
Clark says he remembers the people who poured their time and energy into helping him reach the next level, and that’s the reason he brings the camp back to Riverside each year. He hopes that these athletes see more than an NBA player. For these athletes, Clark is someone who grew up in the same community and found a path to the highest level of the game.
“It’s super dope just being one of the first and help those kids, especially in the lower economic areas, be able to have fun for a day and let loose and everything, it’s just the biggest importance of the camp.”
The camp is built around basketball and enhancing those skills, but the lessons extend beyond the game. Clark hopes that when the campers step off the court they walk away with the confidence to keep chasing their goals.
“Perseverance is everything. Like every time you shoot for the stars, you land on the moon, like just keep going. I know everybody has their own stories, stuff’s going to get tough, it’s going to get hard at times, but the people that keep finding their way, keep getting up, keep going, they always somehow end up successful in the world.”
From the courts of Riverside to the NBA, Jaylen Clark’s journey has come full circle. Now, the next chapter will continue with the young athletes following behind.
For KVCR, I’m Maile Palacios