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The Record Making Los Angeles Lakers Team

The Los Angeles Lakers (also known as the LA Lakers or The Lakers) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles and competing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division of the league. The Lakers are considered one of the most successful NBA teams in history, having won 17 NBA Championships, a record jointly held with the Boston Celtics for the most in NBA history. 

The History of the Lakers can be traced back to 1947, with the purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League (NBL). The new team started playing in Minneapolis, Minnesota and referred to themselves as the Minneapolis Lakers. Although, at inception, the team was a member of the NBL and won the 1948 NBL championship before joining the rival Basketball Association of America, where they would win five of the next six championships through the early 50s, led by star George Mikan. After struggling financially in the late 1950s following Mikan’s retirement, they relocated to Los Angeles before the 1960–61 season.

The Lakers play their home games at Staples Center, an arena shared with the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. The Laker nickname came from the state of Minnesota, being the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The team’s colors are purple, gold and white. The Lakers logo consists of the team name, “Los Angeles Lakers,” written in purple on a gold basketball. The team usually wears white jerseys for Sunday and holiday home games.

The Lakers hold the record for NBA’s longest winning streak, 33 straight games, set during the 1971–72 season. Twenty-six Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles, while four have coached the team. Four Lakers—Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, O’Neal, and Bryant—have won the NBA MVP Award for a total of eight awards.

Given the team’s proximity to Hollywood, the Lakers fan base includes numerous celebrities, many of whom can be seen at the Staples Center during home games. Jack Nicholson, for example, has held season tickets since the 1970s, and directors reportedly need to work their shooting schedules around Lakers home games. From 2002 and 2007, the team averaged just over 18,900 fans, which placed them in the top ten in the NBA in attendance. In 2008, the team sold out every home game, and in 2010, the Lakers had the most popular team merchandise among all NBA teams, and Bryant the most popular jersey.

The history of basketball in the 20th and 21st century is incomplete without the mention of the Lakers. Not just because of their on-field exploits or the amount of titles and successes recorded, but because, out of the Lakers came some the game’s greatest of all-time; which are not limited to Abdul-Jabbar Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal among several others. 

For more on the Lakers’ NBA records, match schedule and other details, Click here or follow the team on Instagram

Sources: 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Lakers

https://cdn.nba.net/assets/pdfs/2018-19-NBA-Guide-10-8.pdf#page=118

Mehran Rowshan of Alliance Football Club Leads Mentorship and Brain Training to Empower the Youth

For years, Mehran Rowshan has remained at the forefront in empowering the youth through expressive developmental methods that allow their talents and potentials to grow. While his focus has primarily been on training and coaching aspiring and established football players, today, he is on a mission to empower the youth in and outside the football field.

Mehran Rowshan is a multiple F.A.-qualified professional football coach with a long-standing legacy in the football industry. Born into a family deeply involved in the football scene, his passion for the sport began at a very early age. His grandfather was one of the founders of TaJ, one of the biggest football clubs in Asia to date. His uncle, Hassan Rowshan, is known for bagging the Asia Cup three times in the 1970s. He is also the only player who has scored for Iran in the Asian Cup, World Cup, and the Olympics. 

Although Mehran started his football journey as a player, a severe knee injury prevented him from continuing his career in the field. Still, his love for the sport remained steadfast, leading him to the world of coaching as a way to carry on his passion. Since he was 22 years old, coaching football players has been his ultimate focus. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management, and his coaching streak has reached England, Spain, Holland, and Portugal. He was one of the founding coaches of the Arsenal Soccer School Dubai in 2009.

In 2015, Mehran Rowshan established the Alliance Football Club, one of Dubai’s most innovative football clubs, which also stands as the city’s most-recognized sporting community and establishment. Essentially, the club is focused on empowering the youth in the sports arena. It is focused on developing each player’s life skills not only when playing football but also outside of the game. Football players in the club work on developing their autonomy, competence, and relationships in a positive learning environment.

On top of being a highly-respected football coach, Mehran Rowshan is also a certified advocate and adviser on nutrition, psychology, mentorship, and life coaching. Incorporating his expertise in other aspects, he takes a unique, constructive, and more expressive approach in training players as the director and head coach of Alliance Football Club. His natural ability to connect with diverse communities and work alongside people from all walks of life set him apart from other football trainers.

Over the years, he has trained more than 10,000 players. He has also designed over 300 football drills geared towards cultivating raw talents in promising football players. But today, Mehran Rowshan pursues an even grander vision for the youth. He has been working on various character development programs designed to guide young people. Some of these include “braining” or brain training and youth mentorship. Essentially, he aims to help the younger generation attain a more meaningful character advancement in life. Over the years, he has incorporated the same approach in Alliance Football Club. This endeavor has allowed the rising sports club to become one of the most progressive youth organizations throughout the Middle East. Learn more about Mehran Rowhsan by visiting his official website.

For years, Mehran Rowshan has remained at the forefront in empowering the youth through expressive developmental methods that allow their talents and potentials to grow. While his focus has primarily been on training and coaching aspiring and established football players, today, he is on a mission to empower the youth in and outside the football field.

Mehran Rowshan is a multiple F.A.-qualified professional football coach with a long-standing legacy in the football industry. Born into a family deeply involved in the football scene, his passion for the sport began at a very early age. His grandfather was one of the founders of TaJ, one of the biggest football clubs in Asia to date. His uncle, Hassan Rowshan, is known for bagging the Asia Cup three times in the 1970s. He is also the only player who has scored for Iran in the Asian Cup, World Cup, and the Olympics. 

Although Mehran started his football journey as a player, a severe knee injury prevented him from continuing his career in the field. Still, his love for the sport remained steadfast, leading him to the world of coaching as a way to carry on his passion. Since he was 22 years old, coaching football players has been his ultimate focus. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management, and his coaching streak has reached England, Spain, Holland, and Portugal. He was one of the founding coaches of the Arsenal Soccer School Dubai in 2009.

In 2015, Mehran Rowshan established the Alliance Football Club, one of Dubai’s most innovative football clubs, which also stands as the city’s most-recognized sporting community and establishment. Essentially, the club is focused on empowering the youth in the sports arena. It is focused on developing each player’s life skills not only when playing football but also outside of the game. Football players in the club work on developing their autonomy, competence, and relationships in a positive learning environment.

On top of being a highly-respected football coach, Mehran Rowshan is also a certified advocate and adviser on nutrition, psychology, mentorship, and life coaching. Incorporating his expertise in other aspects, he takes a unique, constructive, and more expressive approach in training players as the director and head coach of Alliance Football Club. His natural ability to connect with diverse communities and work alongside people from all walks of life set him apart from other football trainers.

Over the years, he has trained more than 10,000 players. He has also designed over 300 football drills geared towards cultivating raw talents in promising football players. But today, Mehran Rowshan pursues an even grander vision for the youth. He has been working on various character development programs designed to guide young people. Some of these include “braining” or brain training and youth mentorship. Essentially, he aims to help the younger generation attain a more meaningful character advancement in life. Over the years, he has incorporated the same approach in Alliance Football Club. This endeavor has allowed the rising sports club to become one of the most progressive youth organizations throughout the Middle East. Learn more about Mehran Rowhsan by visiting his official website.

How Jason Koonce of OTIA Sports Became a Top-of-Mind Dealer for Sports Cards Across North America

Sports cards are among the most treasured items by sports enthusiasts worldwide. One card has the ability to raise their status, leading them to future investments. Jason Koonce has been in the game for over 30 years. As the founder of OTIA Sports, he has been traveling the world for shows and events alongside athletes, dealers, agents, Fortune 500 entrepreneurs, musicians, actors, and more in North America. 

“Sports are our lives, so you will regularly find us chasing major sporting events in every state. We love this business, so we attend the biggest sports card shows and auctions. Sometimes it’s hard to strike a balance between business and pleasure, but we wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Jason. Indeed, everyone’s goal is to make a living out of their passion, and Jason is living the dream.

Asked about his humble beginnings, Jason shared how he began buying and trading sports cards at an early age. Eventually, he realized the bigger market that envelopes his hobby and saw opportunities to build his own brand. He began by exploring sports card shows and building relationships with others in the industry, from top agents to prominent athletes. The connections he made allowed his business to go to greater heights and expand to do public and private signings with athletes. 

“As the industry has evolved, so has my business. When I started out, I was going to the post office every day after school, sending exact change in the mail for cards and hoping I didn’t get scammed. Now, most transactions are online, and I am doing six and seven-figure deals weekly,” said Jason. “I have also really worked on expanding my social media presence and educating collectors as best I can to help them use cards as an investment opportunity,” he added.

Today, OTIA Sports is the go-to company for collectors and entrepreneurs searching for the rarest sports cards and other memorabilia. Jason ensures that his clients get what they are looking for in as fast as 48 hours. With his connections, Jason and his team work efficiently to acquire whatever their clients ask for, and they will go above and beyond client expectations.

Evolving with the times, Jason is committed to building social media presence to reach more people. He also spends time educating clients on investing their funds toward sports cards and equips them to make the right decisions. He encourages people he works with to look for the rarity in the game and invest in players with potential. From learning his way through the industry, Jason now pays his success forward by sharing his knowledge.

“Through all the ups and downs in the industry over the years, our perseverance through it all has made OTIA Sports into what it is today. I still get just as excited buying and selling cards as when I came into the hobby in the early ’90s,” said the sports card expert. “The current market climate is as exciting as it has ever been before, and our future is really bright because of it,” he added.

Learn more about Jason Koonce and OTIA Sports on their website and Instagram.

Cam Mercadel, “The Ankle Collector,” Talks About His Future in Basketball

Cameron “Cam” Mercadel is a 15-year-old basketball prodigy from Los Angeles, California. He first fell in love with the sport at a very young age and has been playing it ever since. The young athlete trains up to four hours a day to get himself in tip-top shape for his future.

Cam Mercadel competes in an elite league where he demonstrates his hustle, ball-handling skills, and deep understanding of the game. Cam usually trains twice as hard, working to enhance his agility, strength, stamina, and speed. Despite his young age, he’s already making waves on the court, heading to the high school varsity team.

Because of his prodigious talent, Cam Mercadel was chosen to be featured in a documentary series about young athletes, which has been viewed half a million times on Youtube. On Whistle Sports’s documentary, No Days Off, Cam showed his undisputed talent and tremendous drive to push himself to his limits and achieve his goals. 

Cam Mercadel grew up in a family of basketball players. Both his mom and dad loved the sport and played in their college varsity teams. Cam first saw a basketball at the age of one and has been playing since he was three. In pre-school, his family had ten-foot-tall hoops at home. Before school each day, his dad trained him to do 250 to 300 shots. At five years old, he wanted to start playing on a club team.

Today, the ball player trains four to six hours a day with his basketball coach. He also works with a boxing coach, a speed and agility coach, and a strength and agility coach to become a holistic and well-rounded athlete. On top of it all, he juggles his grueling daily practice schedule with school work.

Cam Mercadel thinks that documenting his personal journey as an athlete is important, as it could inspire other basketball lovers to pursue their dreams. He wants other players his age to realize that with enough dedication and practice, they could join the NBA someday and become the pros they have always dreamed of.

As a self-proclaimed basketball influencer, he takes pride in making younger and older players better on and off the court. He is passionate about finding ways to help people and put a smile on their faces. To streamline his efforts, he started a foundation to help the hunger problem in his community called Cam Shoot and Dribble for Hunger.

Cam Mercadel’s burning passion and desire to improve himself shines through among his peers. These qualities were instilled in him by his mom and dad, who have supported him and his passion through the years. For Cam, watching his dad become one of the best basketball trainers and life coaches has given him the burning desire to help people. He wants to help people understand that they can be whomever they want to be in life with hard work and dedication to their craft.

In the future, Cam aims to start college and play basketball for a Power Five school while still helping people and running his foundation. Beyond that, Cam is aiming to get into varsity league and, soon after, the NBA big leagues after he finishes his education.

Learn more about Cam Mercadel’s journey on his website and follow him on Instagram.

Beyond the Courts: Naomi Osaka on Providing Opportunities and Changing Lives

Source: Wikipedia 

Over the past years, Japanese professional tennis player Naomi Osaka has risen through the ranks from a rookie to become one of the biggest tennis icons in the world. She has been ranked at the No. 1 spot by the Women Tennis Association (WTA), a four-time Grand Slam champion and the first woman to win successive Grand Slam champion title since Serena Williams in 2011.

Often compared to 23 Grand Slam singles Champion Serena Williams, Osaka is proving to be a different kind of athlete as she builds on the tremendous work of Williams to launch tennis into the future by integrating fashion, culture and arts into the game. Apart from being the highest-paid spokeswoman and a champion on-court, Naomi is also deeply involved in social activism from a protest of police brutality to her Play Academy – an organization focused on promoting girls’ participation in sports. 

The Academy was launched in Tokyo last year and has partnered with Nike, and Laureus Sport for Good to priorities education and sports for girls with the goal of making them role models worth emulating in the future. Recently, the Academy announced its expansion plans to Los Angeles and Haiti. In Los Angeles, the Play Academy will partner with community organizations to increase the sport opportunities available for girls, and will partner with GOALS Haiti and other organizations to support its mission.

The collaborative effort aims to promote youth leadership through sports and education and more female coaches will be hired for the program to help the girls build self-esteem and confidence. Wanting to be a part of the Community Development scheme, many brands such as Mastercard, Levi, Yonex, Strauss & Co and many more have pledged their support to the noble cause of providing the next generation with opportunities.

Osaka’s love and dedication to promoting social wellness is reflected in the brand partnership she chooses. She recently invested in Sweetgreen, a healthy- food restaurant chain and became the company’s first national athlete ambassador and youngest investor. With the partnership, Sweetgreen aims to achieve an important goal –  change the outlook of brands and athletes towards healthy eating and pass the important message of healthy food to the younger generation.

In the company’s press release, co-founder and chief brand officer of Sweetgreen, Nathaniel Ru shared, “Sweetgreen is honored to partner with Naomi because she stands for what she believes in and uses her platform to educate and inspire the next generation.” 

Getting to work, Osaka teamed up with the company’s culinary team to design the custom “Naomi Osaka” bowl. The bowl will contain a healthy mix of fruits and vegetables such as cilantro, baby spinach, raw carrots, tomato, tortilla chips, goat chips, avocado, blackened chicken and many more.

Osaka shared her excitement about the new brand partnership and its positive impact in the community. She emphasized that healthy eating is a huge part of her diet as it directly correlates to how well she performs on-court.

To learn more about Naomi Osaka, her scheduled games, brand partnership and daily updates, visit her official website. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Reference:

https://www.eurosport.com/tennis/naomi-osaka-taking-over-from-serena-williams-to-make-tennis-her-own-on-and-off-the-court_sto8306379/story.shtml

https://www.essentiallysports.com/naomi-osaka-expands-her-academy-to-los-angeles-and-haiti-to-empower-more-girls-through-sport-wta-tennis-news/

https://www.fastcasual.com/news/tennis-star-naomi-osaka-becomes-sweetgreens-youngest-investor/

New York Yankees’ Winning Streak Delights Fans

Source: Wikipedia 

The New York Yankees started the 2021 baseball season on shaky grounds, their consecutive losses frustrating the fans with its underperformance. However, the team has gotten back its winning streak, recording victories in nine of their previous 12 games. On Wednesday, the Yankees recorded yet another victory making it the tenth win out of a total of 13 games. The star of the night was Giancarlo Stanton, who just two weeks ago was relentlessly booed and vilified by the fans now singing his praises. 

Perhaps fueled by the boos, Stanton in his hottest hitting streak since joining the Yankees hit a .500 with a .896 slugging percentage, including five homers, four doubles, and 10 RBI in the last 11 games played by the team. He also has at three hits in five of his last six games making his monstrous trade contract of $265 million worth every penny.

As one of the most feared hitters of the game, Stanton maintained a two-run homer in the third inning, a tied game double in the fifth and landed an insurance run-scoring single in the eighth inning effectively leading the Yankee to its fifth victory with a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros. The victory marked the Yankee’s tenth win in the last thirteen games placing the team just behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League East with a record of 16-14.

Stanton’s win for the team changed the fans’ animosity towards the team as chants of “MVP” could be heard instead of the usual boos. Stanton was happy with the new development and said, “Luckily, it turned pretty quick, and I feel great. I can’t tell you if it’s the best streak ever, but I’m just glad I’m here.”

The Yankees are taking pride in Stanton’s win and will tell you they saw the work ethic, ambition and discipline first hand. The team is conceived that StanWton will soon become a baseball household name as he makes his return to prominence. “He’s a special person and talent, I l just feel like it has been coming. He’s a great player, a great hitter and incredibly disciplined,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. 

Stanton is more confident this year and seems a lot more like the baseball superstar that won the 2017 National League MVP Award with 59 homers while playing the Miami Marlins. Yankee fans are starting to embrace him, figuring he’s the player that can take their beloved team to win the World Series, a position the Yankees haven’t won since 2009.

With Stanton at the helm, the Yankees, in turn, now look like the dream team everyone envisioned at the start of the season. Their offence and pitching at a 3.02 ERA, ranking best in the American League. As the Yankees make a powerful come back, the fans are enjoying themselves thoroughly especially since the victories are coming against the Astros.

Learn more about the New York Yankees, and stay updated on its game schedules by visiting its official website.

Reference:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2021/05/05/yankees-giancarlo-stanton-powers-another-win-over-astros/4967982001/

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-yankees-have-a-fundamental-problem-their-fundamentals/