Are you ready to travel around the country to cities where basketball is part of the heartbeat of culture?
Baylor assistant coach Chloe Pavlech and NBA shooting coach Chris Matthews “Lethal Shooter,” along with Red Bull Media House, debuted a Sports Illustrated YouTube series called Hoops Passport on Aug. 23. In the show, Pavlech and Lethal Shooter take a city and explore all things basketball in that place, talking to some of the most influential basketball figures to bring out a unique flavor of the sport.
Hoops Passport trailer
The third episode takes place in New York City, which Pavlech and Lethal Shooter call the Mecca of women’s hoops. The entire episode is devoted to women’s basketball. Pavlech goes to Christ the King High School, alma mater of Sue Bird, Tina Charles and Chamique Holdsclaw, to talk to coach Bob Mackey. At Christ the King, the basketball is fast-paced and tough, just like the city.
The next stop for Pavlech and Lethal Shooter is Brooklyn, home of the New York Liberty. They talk to Liberty center Stefanie Dolson who came over to New York in free agency prior to the 2022 season. Dolson is from southern New York State, near the Big Apple. She talks about how kids start playing basketball so young in NYC and how she cried at her first workout in NYC when she was a kid because it was so tough.
Lethal Shooter then talks to Alex Taylor, the founder of a women’s basketball community called Hoop York City, about making girls feel more comfortable going to the park and playing on the courts. And Pavlech talks to WSLAM creator Camille Buxeda, who has worked to get more women on the cover of SLAM, which is based in NYC.
You can watch the full New York episode below:
The Atlanta and Washington, D.C. episodes are also available.
While interviewing Dolson for the NYC episode, Pavlech asked Dolson about the WNBA’s efforts to bring Brittney Griner home. Red Bull provided Swish Appeal with a clip of that conversation, which you can view below. Griner has been wrongfully detained in Russia for 205 days. #WeAreBG
