Why Miles Bridges’ First Youth Camp Was About More Than Basketball

The Miles Bridges Family Foundation put on a community event in Charlotte on Saturday.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Saturday was a special day for Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges, who helped co-host his first youth basketball event in Charlotte through Free to Play, in conjunction with the Miles Bridges Family Foundation.

Hosted at Providence Day School in Charlotte, the camp was a groundbreaking new initiative designed to introduce kids, particularly those from under-resourced communities, to a wide range of sports in a fun, supportive environment. Free to Play served over 100 kids four through 12 years old, and gave away over $20,000 worth of youth equipment, signed gear, and vouchers for game tickets along with registration for youth sports clinics.

Free to Play and the Miles Bridges Family Foundation put an emphasis on making sure kids that would benefit most from an event like this could attend. In collaborating to put the day together, these two groups were able to have more than 10 professional athletes across different sports in attendance.

In the end, this event was about far more than just basketball, or any other sport. From Miles Bridges’ side of things, it was a big opportunity for him to give back to the community and help those less fortunate. And at its core, it was a reflection of the people who poured into Miles as a kid in Flint, Michigan — the coaches, mentors, and hometown pros who made sure he had every shot to chase his dream.

“Just giving back to the kids like the people before me did,” Bridges told me. “A bunch of NBA players from my hometown used to do these types of things all the time. So for me to give back to the kids of Charlotte, and even when I go back to Michigan and do the same thing, it’s very big for me.”

The camp was free for all to attend, and that was one of the focal points of the effort the foundation put into it. It was an environment that was fun, welcoming and constructive for kids from all walks of life.

“My main thing for my foundation is just giving back to kids … Just for them to see that I came from the same place they did, and they can make it too.” Bridges said. “That’s the biggest thing for me, just giving kids hope.”

That hope, for Miles, was sparked years ago by men like Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson, Jeff Grayer, and a young Draymond Green — fellow Flint legends who paved the way before him. “They had a big impact on me,” Bridges said. “And it made me want to give back to the youth when I got older too.”

Another of Miles’ influences from his childhood, Franklin Greene Sr., was at the camp on Saturday as well. Known in the Flint community as “Big Frank,” he coached Bridges and others when they were barely big enough to hold a ball. Now he’s helping guide the foundation, continuing to be part of a story decades in the making.

“Big Frank, he’s always been there,” Bridges said. “Looking out for us, making sure that we always had the right tools, the right situations, whether it’s AAU, whether it’s camps, whether it’s picking us up from school or that type of stuff, so it’s always been a great relationship with him.

“You can see it with us now. Just us having these camps, and just our mindset on things. It’s those type of people that help us out, and make us the people we are today.”

The kids who showed up on Saturday didn’t necessarily see all the intentionality that went into making this a great experience for them, but they’re going to remember the feeling. They’ll remember running drills with an NBA player, laughing with their friends, and maybe for the first time, feeling like someone believed in their dream.

That’s the kind of experience that you can’t put a price on.

It was a fantastic event for Bridges and his foundation as he prepares to head into his seventh season with the Hornets. As we talked, I made a call-back to a comment Taj Gibson made during Charlotte’s exit interviews two months ago, where he called Bridges “an All-Star caliber player.”

When I brought that up, Miles smiled humbly. “That means a lot coming from him,” he said. “He’s played with two MVPs … He sees what I put in to the game. Shouts out to Taj, he’s one of the best teammates, one of the best OGs in the game right now.”

Before we finished up, I asked something light: Who has the best hands in the boxing gym between Bridges, Tre Mann, and Charles Lee? Miles laughed. “I’ll say Tre,” he said. “Coach is the worst. I’ll give myself second.”

All jokes aside, this camp showed something that goes beyond rankings, stats, or offseason workouts. It showed the heart of a man who hasn’t forgotten where he came from — and is determined to be the kind of influence that once changed his life.

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