LOS ANGELES -- It looked like a scene from a modern version of Gulliver's Travels at the Los Angeles headquarters of the Boys and Girls' club Monday afternoon.
There was an incredibly tall man in the middle of the basketball court, swarmed by boys and girls less than half his size, with the big man — Laker Pau Gasol — hooping it up with the kids as he launched the Gasol Foundation's "Healthy Challenge."
Pau and brother Marc have started what they hope will be a world-wide foundation that helps children deal with health issues before they happen. The brothers are operating out of their home cities — Pau in Los Angeles and Marc in Memphis — and this seven-week challenge will be an opportunity for the youngsters to improve their eating habits and workout routines.
The event will monitor all the kids, and on Aug. 10 a winning city will be determined and and all the team members will receive prizes. The team that finishes second gets to watch their coach shave his beard, which will be a very trying experience for one of the Gasols. Besides being great basketball players, the Gasol brothers are known for their facial growth, and both will be going all out to see their kids make the most improvement, allowing them to keep their beard.
Seriously though, the most important aspect of the challenge is to change the lives of young men and women who might not have the means to do it on their own.
"It's something me and Marc wanted to do for a while," Pau said after finishing up his mini-clinic. "We were looking for a way to use our abilities off the court to do good for the community and we feel this was the best way for us to give back.
"It's a good way for us to help kids around the world."
Because of the usual bureaucracy and paper work it takes to get these types of endeavors up and running, Pau admitted that it was nearly a three-year process to get to this point. But with the technical roadblocks out of the way, the Gasol Foundation is ready to implement it's strategy of giving young people the tools to live a healthier and better life.
"This has been a (long) process to get this going," said the four-time NBA All Star and two-time World Champion, whose brother Marc made his first All-Star team this year.
"We're looking at this as kind of a soft launch before we really get into expanding things around the world. We want to be able to make a difference everywhere."
Gasol said that while the notoriety of he and his brother as great pro basketball players makes it easier to open the door and get support from major companies like Nike, it's something he would try to do no matter what profession he was in.
"That's something very important to us: Giving back to the community no matter what we're doing or where we're playing. It's something we hope the foundation will be very successful at help kids lead healthier lives."
