Brooklyn Nets star Mikal Bridges knows exactly what he would be if he never made it to the NBA and with the help of a local public school, he got to fulfill that dream this month.
The small forward became a teacher for a day, instructing students at PS 134 in Brooklyn in math class and on the court, CBS News reported last week.
“My other dream was being a second-grade teacher,” Bridges told the news station. “I think just helping kids has always been a big thing of mine.”
He specifically wanted to teach second grade because of his own second-grade teacher, Ms. Porter, who made the year a memorable one in his early education in Philadelphia.
“I had a great teacher named Ms. Porter and just I feel like I always loved second grade,” Bridges said.
The basketball player got to follow in Ms. Porter’s footsteps at the Kensington public school following a late night — having only gotten back to the city at around 1:30 a.m. after a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The students helped him through his lack of adequate sleep.
“Their energy was just like, what got me going so fast. They got me excited,” Bridges said.
He began the morning playing basketball alongside curious fourth-graders during their gym period and answered all their questions about his life and career.
One student asked why he didn’t become a teacher if he wanted to be one, according to CBS.
“Because of basketball. But basketball doesn’t go forever,” he replied. “This is just the first part of my journey, so I think teacher is going to come up next. Trying to do both.”
Next came music class.
The 6-foot-6 player sat in a chair beside first-grade students who were learning to play “Baby Shark” on the xylophone.
Bridges said his pint-sized classmates helped him when he struggled to play along.
“They were teaching me on the little xylophone. I didn’t know what I was doing … what the teacher was teaching,” he said. “The kid next to me was pointing at the board like, ‘Follow that, follow that.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, ok. That makes sense.’”
He joined the children for lunch and recess — and then got to stand at the front of the classroom, playing the role of instructor in his favorite subject, math.
“Math came easy to me. I feel like I was probably one of the smartest math kids in our class,” Bridges said, adding that when he was a kid, he’d help other students. “I’ll try to teach them. Like, ‘Oh, this is how I learned it and it’s pretty simple to me this way. Just think of this way.’”
He gave the first-graders a basketball-related math problem and ended the day with a renewed appreciation for teachers.
“A lot of days, we’re in school,” he said. “And we’re with our teachers and I think they just don’t get enough credit. Because we’re around them a lot, you know what I’m saying. And they help us become better people every day. And I think some are overlooked a little bit.”
The NBA star hopes to fulfill his second dream for real when he retires from basketball. He said he hopes to become a teacher, or even a principal, after his sports career finishes.
