A Quote by Malik Jackson
My dad was around every second. Teaching me the game.
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My dad took me to a high school basketball game and this very, very famous coach in Michigan, by the name of Lofton Greene - he was a guy that my dad was familiar with. He was from our hometown. And I watched the game and I said I didn't see this guy doing a lot of coaching. And my dad told me, well, it's just like a teacher - which he was - he said if you do a good job teaching during the week, when they take the test on Friday, that's not the time you have to do a lot of demonstrative things.
I was fortunate to be around a couple of coaches who took me under their wing and taught me how to train, how to work and how to prepare myself for a game. They gave me so much, and I saw the passion they had for the game and for teaching it. What I learned from them led me to want to become a teacher and coach.
When I got a little older, like, 10 or 11, my dad would run a training school every month, teaching people how to become wrestlers. I would get in the ring now and again and mess around with one of my brothers, and he'd teach me some stuff.
I went and took golf lessons so Dad would let me play with him. I was just terrible... but I was able to have a wonderful time just walking around with Dad. I can see the real pleasure of that game.
I had a toothache during the first game. In the second game I had a headache. In the third game it was an attack of rheumatism. In the fourth game, I wasn't feeling well. And in the fifth game? Well, must one have to win every game?
My dad would pick me up every other Friday at 6 o'clock and drop me off every Sunday at 6 o'clock, and I remember those last couple hours, like around 4 o'clock, my dad would get kind of sad because he knew that he was about to not see me for two more weeks.
He loves the game. He gave it everything he had. What I really admire, though, is he said to me, 'Dad, I just couldn't keep doing it.' That cycle of injury, rehab, injury, rehab just got too much. He didn't want to stick around and begin to resent the game. He wanted to leave the game and still love the game. That's pretty impressive.
Dad's influence naturally came into me, rather than trying to emulate every detail. His way of teaching me was to be sparse, and to be explosive when it needed to be.
My father and mother have given me so much love, so much support, that it would trivialize their parenthood if I would reduce it just to basketball. But my dad does call me before and after every game. And when we lost a game we shouldn't have, he told me it wasn't my fault. And I appreciated that, because he was trying to pick me up.
I still run into a lot of people from Memphis, all around the NBA. I feel like they're with me every game. I feel their love, their support, their pushing. I know they still cheer for me. They let me know they cheer for me. And there's a part of them with me in every game I play.
I'm always going to be around the game of basketball. I plan to keep my options open as a player moving forward, but that's not coaching. Maybe front office work, working with teams and spreading the game, maybe teaching the game to young people, that's something that's a very big passion.
I've never played for my dad. I played against my dad actually in high school. That was fun, but he taught me how to play the game the right way. Respect the game, give it all you've got and regardless of what happens, have no regrets.
My dad plays every point with me. He sees the game so well, and knows exactly what to say to make me play better.
According to my parents, I just started drumming when I was two. I traveled with them from five to seven on the road, playing percussion. Between 8 and 12, my dad sort of prepared me by teaching me every aspect of road life.
My father loved the game. The people at the Albuquerque Academy I grew up with teaching me the game.
My family prayed a lot, but we didn't really go to church. On Sunday, my mum and dad used to always tell me to read the Bible. That was important for me growing up, and I still do that every morning. It's something that is part of my routine, and I do it every day, whether it's a normal game or a big one.
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