Today we’d like to introduce you to Juaquin Hawkins.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My name is Juaquin Hawkins and I grew up in Lynwood/Compton Ca. I was raised by my mom, grandmother and 3 uncles. After graduating from Lynwood highschool, I received a basketball scholarship to Long Beach State University. I had to sit out my first season in college but went on to play 3 seasons at Long Beach State. I earned my degree in 4 years and even played my senior as a graduate student. In 1996 I was undrafted to the NBA but received a invite to tryout for the Los Angels Lakers and Los Angels Clippers during the late 90’s. Though initially I didn’t make the NBA with those teams, I would go on to play professional basketball overseas, playing in 5 different countries, with the Harlem Globetrotters and in the minor leagues for ten plus years gaining valuable experience. Eventually, I would make the NBA at 29 years old and become the oldest African American rookie in the NBA with the Houston Rockets during the 2002-2003 season. Continuing to play, in 2008 I would suffer a stroke on New Year’s Day while playing professional in Australia. With about a year of speech and physical therapy, I would try and return to play but unfortunately, things would not be the same. I would have to eventual retire due to residual health issues.
My stroke happen at the worst possible time. In 2008, our country experienced one of worst recessions in history. I was not able to earn a living playing professional basketball any longer and my health issues made working in any other capacity impossible. Additionally, our nest egg and investment properties went under. Our car was repossessed and we lost everything. My wife had to take care of our three toddlers while nursing me to health. I was also supporting my mom and younger sister for a few years while playing professionally. They too suffered from the negative impact of my misfortune. As a result, we all found our selves without the place we called home. We found ourselves living in hotels and with family for some time. I had to do something because I felt I was failing as a husband, father and son.
After two years of rehabilitation, I was able to start to conduct personal basketball training lessons for kids. This provided some income for me to began to support my family again. A parent by the name of Chris Teets shared my information with other parents in the area and I found myself training about 30 kids at the Teet’s home one afternoon. A couple of weeks after that I decided to conduct a tryout for my new club team that would be called “Hawk Hoops.”This would be a travel basket team for boys and girls ages 9-14 who were interested in learning the game of basketball from a former NBA player and other experienced coaches. This youth team would train/practice during the week and compete during weekend games or tournaments. We would also travel out of area or out state to give the youth a different type of experience. The ultimate goal would to prepare them for highschool while helping them learn how to deal with adversity just as I did.
Though I was a NBA player and played professionally for a number of years, I didn’t want my program to be only for elite level players and I didn’t want to recruit players just to win games. It was important for me to use my personal life experiences, the ups and the downs to teach young players not to give up when things are challenging. It would be just as important for me to be there to assist the parents with their understanding as their child continued to developed. I personal felt that it is great benefit going through challenges and overcoming that adversity to become stronger mentally. I was able to bring in other personal friends of mine and coaches who had the same vision. We started with about four teams in 2010 and today, we have 20 different teams ages 8-17 with four additional teams that have come under our Hawk Hoops umbrella. With a partnership with AVAC UNITED we conduct individual and small group training, camps, clinics, tournaments as well as club teams.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has definitely been a lot of challenges along the way. The first challenge which is still a challenge is finding funding to run the program. It cost to utilize the gym for our kids to practice, it cost to put the kids/teams in games/tournaments and compensate coaches for their time. Unfortunately, I have to charge the parents a monthly fee to conduct the program. We have kids from single parent homes, or low-income families, etc.. that find it difficult to pay a monthly fee to have their child in the program. Secondly, finding a facility to conduct the program while residing in Fontana has also been challenging for me. The only facility I initially had was at Palos Verdes highschool that was almost a 2 hour drive in traffic for me. Then I decided to work with another youth organization in Anaheim for a couple of years but decided to move on from that for personal reasons. Then I was able to get gym access twice a week in Garden Grove which is a 1 hour 10 minutes drive in traffic. Eventually, that facility would closed down. There was a new facility that opened down the street from that facility called the Map and I was able to get more court time there permanently. So the last 5 years I’ve made the drive during the week and some weekends to Garden Grove to conduct the program. Now our program is there operating Monday-Friday. Today it is still difficult to find program funding, sponsorships or donations to assist with conducting the program for the kids. I am hopeful that will change in the future.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Hawk Hoops Youth Basketball story. Tell us more about the business.
Our AVAC/Hawk Hoops program is a youth basketball program for boys and girls ages 8-17. Our goal is to provide opportunities for our youth through the game of basketball and prepare them for highschool and college. We conduct basketball practices during the week and play competitive games on the weekends with some travels out of the area. We also mentor kids in our program utilizing their basketball experiences as life teaching moments. I’m most proud of that we have different nationalities in our program and we don’t particularly go out and recruit only top-level players for our teams. We place players on particular teams and help them develop. We have committed players who have been with us for years and their parents are patient with their child’s development and see the value staying with our program. Our program is not for everyone but we are very grateful that we have helped players improved and become even more talented. We welcome all players regardless of their skill level. We are also fortunate to have coaches who have played in the NBA, played professionally on some level, attended college, currently are highschool coaches or coaches that have the passion to teach.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see more organization similar to ours in the industry provide more players with different opportunities preparing youth student athletes for highschool, college or even a chance to play professionally while creating life long memories.
Contact Info:
- Address: Gym location
(Map – located at 12552 Western Ave, Garden Grove) - Website: HawkHoops.org
- Phone: (562)318-7044 (office)
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: Coachhawk247 (Instagram)
- Facebook: Juaquin Hawkins (HawkHoops club teams)
- Other: Hawkhoopsjr.nba (Instagram)
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