Dream to Be a Hero

　　Most parents who want to send their kids to camp in the summertime have to pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars.If your kid happens be a really good basketball player,you probably won"t have to pay a dime.Your kid will go to camp,basketball camp,courtesy of Nike Adidas.those shoe companies scour the country for the best basketball talent and compeite like crazy to get those kids into their brand,offering free shoes,free tips,free camps to even younger players.

　　Inteviewer :How old were you when they started

　　To singling you out? Were you just a little kid?

　　Tyson Chandler:It was about 5th garde,6th grade.

　　When we first met him in 1997,Tyson Chandler had just finished 8th grade but he and his teamnates on the southern Califolia all stars were already sponsored and equipped by Nike.

　　Interviewer:You are all wearing Nike.

　　Chandler:Yeah.

　　Interviewer:You are Nikemen

　　Chandler:AlI Nike.

　　Nike and Adidas have turned summertime into a huge basketball bazaar,spending millions of dollars to coral every kid with a decent jump shot.Betting that one Of two of them wiIl develop into supestar and human bi11boards.

　　As soon as kids are finished with their junior high or high school seasons in the spring,coaches armed with free shoes are weid1ing to recruit them from Nike summer teams or Adidas summer team that will play all the way through August.

　　Both Nike and Adidas have sponsored youth tournaments in LasVegas.Hundreds of kids as young as 12 showing their skills on the court,and strutting their stuff on the strip. At an age when them only mail most kids get is birthday party nvitations,Tyson

　　got recruitment letters from UCLA and Arizona and Syracuse.

　　They wanted him for later,Nike already had him.Both companies also have their hooks in high school basketball teams,all around the country.

　　There are more than a hundred Nike high schools and a hundred Addidas high schools.They get free shoes,free uniforms and free equipment and often cash for the coach.In return Nike and

　　Adidas get exposure,loyalty and a pipeline for promsing players.More and more,the best teenage players are turning

　　pro right from high school.

　　Tyson"s mother is worried that things are moving to fast for her son.

　　Interviewer:Do you worry sometimes about what this is doing to your kid?

　　Mother:Yes,I do,I worry cause I don"t want him to move too fast,I still want him to be a kid.

　　Interviewer:He is a kid.

　　Mother:Yeah,but a lot of people overlook that because of his height.