(Editor’s be aware: All through the week, The Athletic highlighted the Harlem Globetrotters and their contributions to basketball, imaginative and prescient for leisure and general dedication to goodwill.)
All he needed was an image.
When Pawel Kidoń attended his first Harlem Globetrotters sport in Poland in 2019, the ticket being a present for his twenty first birthday, all he needed was {a photograph} earlier than leaving Tauron Area Kraków with any of the gamers keen to lend their time. He had a Magic Move ticket, permitting followers to fulfill the Globetrotters 90 minutes earlier than tipoff, and his girlfriend had her cellphone prepared for a photograph.
Kidoń had practiced methods along with his basketball for years after discovering the Globetrotters on the web. He’d watched the gamers, world vacationers and basketball icons on a world stage. However he additionally knew his personal talent set. If he might get that one image with a participant, his birthday would have been full.
Kidoń left the sector with much more than {a photograph}. He left with the respect of a number of the greatest ballhandlers on the planet. He left with a repute.
Kidoń bought to fulfill Globetrotter Joe “Jumpin” Ballard throughout the Magic Move pregame. He needed Ballard to switch a spinning ball from Ballard’s finger to his, the transfer many Globetrotters do for followers, however as soon as Kidoń bought the ball, it was his alternative to point out he wasn’t an everyday fan — or an everyday particular person with a basketball.
“Like, I can stand on one hand and do one thing with my different hand with the ball,” stated Kidoń, who’s a former world freestyle basketball champion.
Kidoń’s girlfriend captured the second on video, which in the end went viral. That one clip led to the Globetrotters making a call that might change Kidoń’s life — and likewise pave the way in which for historical past.
Kidoń, as soon as only a Globetrotters fan, is now the primary participant in franchise historical past to hail from Poland. He discovered to play basketball on his personal whereas dwelling within the small village of Zubrzyca Dolna, dwelling to lower than 2,000 individuals and positioned on the southern finish of Poland minutes away from Slovakia. Kidoń has earned the nickname “Dazzle” on the Globetrotters stage.
It’s fairly the change for Kidoń, who as soon as labored in Poland at an amusement park performing basketball methods earlier than being found.
Dazzle Kidoń is the primary Harlem Globetrotter participant ever from Poland, and the primary to be found at our pre-game Magic Move occasion. 🔥
It wasn’t till after when he revealed that he was truly a world freestyle basketball champion! #PlayerProfile pic.twitter.com/A1d0h1hkgj
— Harlem Globetrotters (@Globies) February 26, 2021
In some methods, Kidoń deems himself to be a self-made product. He first fell in love with basketball in 2013 after watching in disbelief YouTube highlights of the Globetrotters. Earlier than Kidoń donned the pink, white and blue, he’d by no means performed on an organized basketball crew, discovered below a coach and even performed a correct sport of five-on-five.
“To his credit score, he’s in all probability the toughest employee we’ve bought on the market,” stated “Candy” Lou Dunbar, the Globetrotters director of participant personnel and a member of the crew as a participant and govt for greater than 4 many years. “Every single day, he’s engaged on his sport, as a result of he is aware of so far as ballhandling, he’s in a unique stratosphere.”
The head of his basketball expertise rising up was having the ability to spin the ball on his finger. He then started practising straightforward trick pictures and freestyle dealing with strikes.
The strikes grew to become vibes. After which the vibes grew to become a full-on present.
Considered one of Kidoń’s first true loves was breakdancing. By that, he’s crafted a lane as some of the distinctive Globetrotters — which says one thing contemplating the crew’s longstanding historical past of merging basketball with leisure.
“After I began creating my very own methods, I observed I might do every little thing with a basketball,” Kidoń stated. “I might stand and do some methods, however I might additionally transfer my physique, like, do a cartwheel or stand on my head or management a basketball between my legs. So, I simply began to discover, not even simply basketball, however dance, hip-hop, breakdancing.
“I used to be in search of some parts I might mix with basketball. That’s how I began, principally. I began doing breakdancing as a result of there are parts of breakdancing which can be potential to attach with basketball.”
For Kidoń, becoming a member of the Globetrotters meant greater than adjusting to a brand new ardour. He was getting acclimated to a brand new crew, a brand new language, a brand new tradition and demographic of individuals. Kidoń is the primary particular person from his household to fly to the US, not to mention study to construct a life so removed from dwelling.
He nonetheless remembers his first day with the Globetrotters, which included media duties with newspapers, TV networks and radio stations excited to fulfill him. That made waves again in Poland as a result of the Globetrotters don’t enable simply anyone to check out for his or her roster. As soon as he was formally a member, Kidoń went from being nicknamed “KID” to his present moniker.
And “Dazzle” has been dazzling.
“If I might hear someone bouncing the ball, I knew it was Dazzle,” Dunbar stated. “He’s on the market working daily, and he’s competing with these guys, taking part in one-on-one daily. He’s attempting to get to their degree.”
Pawel “Dazzle” Kidoń, a world-champion freestyle ballhandler, is the primary Polish member of the Harlem Globetrotters. (Aldara Zarraoa / Getty Photographs)
In merging all the changes into one life-changing transition, what has been most key to Kidoń going from a freestyling entertainer to a full-time basketball participant? For the Polish star, preparation is past important.
“I attempt to observe on a regular basis as a result of I do know I’ve bought a number of work to do,” he stated. “I’m not pretty much as good in basketball as different gamers but. Principally, I get up, I eat breakfast, and virtually each single day, I begin my day with stretching and a few actions. Then often, we’ve bought to journey, like three, 4 hours to the subsequent metropolis.
“Earlier than each single sport, I’m attempting to be ready. I observe my methods, like, my outdated methods to maintain my form. Additionally, I’ll take some pictures to be a greater shooter. We play some two-on-two video games, three-on-three video games. I’m centered on enhancing my basketball abilities, my basketball IQ. … If you see me within the enviornment on a regular basis, you’ll be able to see me on a regular basis with the basketball in my fingers.”
A variety of what the Globetrotters do is entertaining, but it surely does require realizing the basics of crew basketball to work. In his adjustment time with the crew, Kidoń has grown as a participant and showman, and he’s discovered himself capable of grow to be a wow issue on the court docket. As soon as a shy child nervous about talking English, Kidoń has honed his use of the language through the use of Duolingo language classes and listening to rap music whereas touring to new cities. Since becoming a member of the crew, he has carved out a top-five checklist of his favourite American cities: New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas.
Kidoń admitted to not being a giant fan of touring earlier than turning into a Globetrotter, however that began to vary as soon as he started touring the US, Africa and Asia. Adjusting to American life launched him to a secure basketball expertise, new meals and music that has helped him develop snug inside a brand new tradition.
Kidoń is a large fan of NBA star Steph Curry. He’s additionally a giant fan of hip-hop and Tremendous Bowl halftime present headliner Kendrick Lamar. His delicacies selections range from steak to hen wings to hamburgers.
And his freestyle abilities are welcomed. They’re all the time extra enjoyable when he has somebody to observe with.
The Globetrotter method has grown on Kidoń. He’s taken the franchise’s mission of giving again to the group again to Poland. He’s now holding basketball camps and reveals in his homeland at no cost.
For every little thing Kidoń has loved about being a Globetrotter, he nonetheless retains a modest basketball bucket checklist, which incorporates his want to fulfill Curry. He remembers watching the four-time NBA champion in 2016 when Curry grew to become the first-ever unanimous MVP in league historical past. Kidoń described that model of Curry as “unguardable,” which is excessive reward from such a well-traveled hooper who’s versed in undertaking what some may contemplate the seemingly unattainable.
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However such life classes are why Kidoń obtained greater than an image when he attended his first Globetrotters sport. He’s gone from life in a small village and an amusement park to sold-out arenas for one of many world’s most famed basketball franchises.
“(I need) to point out children it’s vital to have targets in your life,” Kidoń stated. “It’s vital to search out one thing you like to do and simply do it as a result of everyone has a expertise. It’s vital to search out some hobbies, some passions, and simply do one thing, since you by no means understand how far you’ll be able to go together with your ardour.
“I made it to the Harlem Globetrotters crew, and I lived in a small village with lower than 2,000 individuals. If I made it and it was potential for me, why is that not potential for you, too?”
(Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Aldara Zarraoa / Getty Photographs)