Golden State Warriors help transform lives of incarcerated men through coaching program

By JANIE McCAULEY Associated Press VACAVILLE One day last fall Ray Woodfork revealed himself being challenged to a fight by a fellow inmate half his age on the grounds of Solano State Prison Related Articles Mike Dunleavy sizes up OKC Thunder explains draft philosophy as Warriors enter NBA offseason Kevin Durant being sent from Suns to Rockets in a blockbuster commerce AP source says Caitlin Clark explains why she idolizes Warriors superstar Steph Curry Lainn Wilson named Santa Cruz Warriors head coach for - Will Warriors find gold with No pick in NBA draft History says maybe Woodfork would have been tempted not so long ago The Golden State Warriors have helped turn him toward a different way of thinking This time the once-aspiring college basketball participant who was serving as referee for the prison football league that day right away made it clear he had no interest in an altercation Woodfork noted he chose to walk away and return to his dorm He acknowledges had he fought there s no way he would now be part of a peer mentoring undertaking or have a chance for the governor to review his scenario And Woodfork certainly wouldn t be a certified basketball coach either if adrenaline and anger had won out I was just like That s not who I am that s not what I m about and I walked away Woodfork recalled It s hard to do because the flesh wants to do that The happening happened before Week of a six-week project run by youth coaches from the Warriors Basketball Academy as part of the Twinning Project that is teaching incarcerated men at Solano coaching skills and showing them there is the chance for meaningful transformation Woodfork successfully utilized a skill learned in the plan palms down With palms facing down it allows someone to move forward and focus on the next moment or play forgetting whatever trigger might be right in front of them or something that already happened Woodfork began writing rap lyrics about his experience with the Twinning Project which started in the UK by pairing professional soccer teams like Arsenal and West Ham United of the Premier League with prisons to contribute in the rehabilitation process U S clubs such as D C United Angel City FC and Miami FC have become involved and other NBA teams are showing interest Golden State will be a hard act to follow Twinning Project CEO Hilton Freund disclosed Daniel Lopez performs a basketball drill with other Twinning Project cohort participants during the project s collaboration with the NBA s Golden State Warriors and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at Solano State Prison in Vacaville Calif Tuesday Feb AP Photo Jeff Chiu Haley Cremen Campaign Coordinator of the Golden State Warriors Basketball Academy right hugs Jay Cornish as he and other Twinning Project cohort participants graduate during the project s collaboration with the NBA s Golden State Warriors and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at Solano State Prison in Vacaville Calif Tuesday Feb AP Photo Jeff Chiu Twinning Project cohort participants perform basketball drills during the project s collaboration with the Golden State Warriors and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at Solano State Prison in Vacaville Calif Tuesday Feb AP Photo Jeff Chiu Twinning Project cohort participants gather before performing basketball drills during the project s collaboration with the NBA s Golden State Warriors and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at Solano State Prison in Vacaville Calif Tuesday Feb AP Photo Jeff Chiu Ray Woodfork a graduate of Twinning Project s collaboration with the NBA s Golden State Warriors and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation s cohort middle performs a rap song in front of cohort participants and Warriors Basketball Academy members at Solano State Prison in Vacaville Calif Tuesday Feb AP Photo Jeff Chiu Ray Woodfork a graduate of Twinning Project s collaboration with the NBA s Golden State Warriors and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation s cohort shoots a basket at Solano State Prison in Vacaville Calif Tuesday Feb AP Photo Jeff Chiu Show Caption of Daniel Lopez performs a basketball drill with other Twinning Project cohort participants during the project s collaboration with the NBA s Golden State Warriors and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at Solano State Prison in Vacaville Calif Tuesday Feb AP Photo Jeff Chiu Expand With my palms down I calm down next move is on them Several months later Woodfork grabbed a mic and began rapping those very words in celebration as his basketball teammates danced alongside him and hugged one another It s graduation day That means a stroll in front of the group to receive a certificate and Warriors jersey with each man s last name on back The hope is these graduates will now use their skills to teach other incarcerated men not only how to coach but to be positive influences When Warriors academy coach Ben Clarfield circles up the group at midcourt to give the men and instructors a chance to provide feedback there is a common theme The Twinning Project has provided these men a sense of self-worth and purpose a break from the isolation of prison Multiple of the participants expressed feeling loved and seen often for the first time in years This has been about grace and forgiveness inclusion and acceptance Oftentimes those ideas have had to be learned or re-learned and the Twinning Project played a crucial role in that process It reintroduced me to my love of basketball that people on the outside haven t given up on us former Fresno State learner Jonquel Brooks reported It s wanting to coach but not knowing how to coach then now being given the tools to have the opportunity Jeff Addiego vice president of Warriors Basketball Academy and his staff have also been changed by the outreach They beamed and fought tears at the same time overjoyed to see these men finding meaning in their new roles The way this operation works the Warriors players and coaches aren t participating as several of the European professionals are though former Golden State big man Festus Ezeli has been a regular visitor We ve gotten to know each and every one of these guys If one of these guys was anywhere else I would give him a hug the first time I saw him Addiego reported It s amazing We don t pry or ask them anything it but what they ve been willing to share with us it s powerful stuff Woodfork s mentor Viet Kim Le took part in the second coaching cohort He has observed the commitment by Woodfork to show remorse for his crime and better himself while serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for murder His beliefs have changed Le revealed so he looks at life through a different lens I don t react I respond I take a breath and I move on Spanning four hours each Tuesday particular of these men felt like actual basketball players again They stepped into a changing area in the Solano gym and traded their prison blues for jerseys featuring the Warriors logo on front and Twinning Project on back before making their way to the court for drills like shooting dribbling and defense There was also mental training to find strategies for every situation they might encounter in prison or for specific perhaps eventually life on the outside They backpedaled with extra self-confidence they high-fived dishing out good-natured trash talk here and there but more than anything they cheered each other on through every great shot or errant pass Multiple might never have mixed otherwise Community-building is a big part of it Freund launched his charitable foundation in and he and his wife attended the Feb graduation of the second group of men at Solano receiving coaching certificates He is thrilled the Warriors became involved Freund references a assessment from the University of Oxford published last year showing the initiative s wholistic benefit for the incarcerated leading to better behavior less propensity for violence improved relationships amongst themselves and improved relationships with their prison officers Making coaches out of convicts we re taking over cities coaching with a passion that s how we set the tone The palms-down approach is about having the power to choose a response That message and other learning tools came from mental skills coach Graham Betchart who works regularly with the UConn men s basketball squad On his first drive to Solano Betchart came up with the rhyme let it go give it back next play I attack He had no idea Woodfork would soon begin turning those words into rap Inspiring to the world Betchart declared and it comes in a way that I ve never seen anybody deliver it the way that he does And everything he s saying is PG- but it s delivered in a way that s so powerful you don t even realize that you d want your -year-old kid listening to this I let it go and get it back the next play you know I m going to attack Woodfork was arrested at age for killing a man during an attempted robbery He had expected to start playing college games in a summer tournament mere days later So I was right there right there Woodfork shared Now he is hopeful his hard work will be considered by Gov Gavin Newsom A former gang member both outside and inside prison who once had dreams of playing in the NBA Woodfork has trained to be a peer mentor a initiative requiring he have five clean years without trouble in order to participate The Warriors plan has filled a major void That s an understatement Woodfork revealed due to the fact my aspirations were to play in the NBA one day as a kid that was my end all be all that was my identity Basketball was everything It s deeper than the contest and that name on your shirt it s the Twinning Project where real men put in work It brings Addiego and the others to tears at times witnessing the progress like Woodfork deciding not to fight that day I talked myself off the ledge by speaking out loud about what happened explained Woodfork now working as a drug and alcohol counselor This is an opportunity to show the world I m not the person I was It doesn t define me I feel like I ve outgrown prison I feel like a fish swimming upstream a salmon AP NBA https apnews com NBA