Sinan Guler, Galatasaray's star player, runs Guler Legacy, a four-year-old free basketball camp for disadvantaged kids in Turkey. He and his brother Murat Can and father Nakati teach skills and mentorship. A childhood encounter with Michael Jordan inspired him to use basketball to bridge social gaps.
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Building a basketball legacy is often considered a matter of collecting accolades on the court. But at least one EuroLeague star, Sinan Guler of Galatasaray Liv Hospital Istanbul, is building an off-court legacy that celebrates much more than his own accomplishments. Guler Legacy, his 4-year-old camp for children, uses the basketball experiences of his entire family to enrich the lives of young people in Istanbul and beyond.
In those camps, we also bring kids from less fortunate areas of Turkey without any expense on their side to Istanbul, to the basketball camps, and teach them basketball. And we try to share our experiences through basketball and life with them.
Güler's family has plenty experience to share too. Father Nakati is an ex-pro, coach and basketball executive. Older brother Murat Can played 4 EuroLeague seasons himself, while Sinan helped achieve Turkey's biggest basketball moment, winning a silver medal at the 2010 World Championships. All 3 run the camps, but while his sons continue playing professionally, the patriarch takes the lead role.
He oversees a lot of things. He's sharing his experiences with the players and with the coaches, and he's sharing his attributes that he gained throughout the years of coaching and working in federation to create a better environment on and off the court for the kids.
Sinan's inspiration to start Guler Legacy was his own boyhood opportunities to attend camp including a couple at which he met Michael Jordan.
I had a chance to see him, talk to him a little, even for a little bit, and it was an experience that stayed with me throughout my youth. And I wanted to share that experience with the players that are up and coming in the youth programmes right now in Turkey in any way possible.
That inspiration has expanded to using basketball, and his family's broad experience in the sport To bridge gaps between people.
The main thing is I believe basketball has a universal language. There's no translation needed. All you need is a basket and a ball, basically.
Once the camp begins, Sinan and Muratcan do not limit themselves to teaching basketball skills.
We stay at the camp together with the kids. Sometimes we play basketball with them, sometimes we talk with them outside of the court. hearing about their experiences and what they go through in life, and we do the same thing to them so they can learn from us.
What Sinan himself has learned through Guler Legacy is that the transformational power of basketball works at any level of society.
From the first year, seeing a kid from Istanbul with, you know, some fancy shoes, that he can wear and he can buy easily through his chances, and less fortunate kids from, you know, different cities of Turkey on the southeast part of it, getting on the court together and playing the same game, seeing the same love and passion of the game in their eyes, and just doing basically the same thing, maybe in different levels, but doing the same thing and learning the same thing. It's an amazing experience just to see that and to create an opportunity for kids to be in that situation.
