Dominican Join Harlem GlobeTrotters

The Harlem Globetrotters team in New York will take the first game on ice in its history, and the "court" shall "Blenda" Rodriguez, of Dominican origin, whose ball skills have made him one of their most popular players basketball.

Like many children, Kenny Rodriguez, his real name, became interested in baseball and basketball because I wanted to be like his older brother Elvis. However, he soon discovered that their skills were not in baseball.

"I liked basketball because my brother is playing Elvis," he told Efe the 31 years, born in New York, the son of Dominican immigrants from the town of Santiago.

He recalled that he saw little cartoons of Globetrotters (1970-1973, who also have starred in television series and made it to the big screen) and wanted to be part of the team, highlighted by humor with his playing and juggling , making it a unique show of its kind.

"I wonder if that (what they did on the court) was possible," said Rodriguez, one of three Latinos in the team that will play in New York next week as part of his tour "Magical Memories", which began in late December and ends on May 2.

The other Latinos are Puerto Rican Orlando "El Gato" Melendez, who joined the team in 2008 when the Panamanian Kevin "Special K" Daley, who played for the Globetrotters since 2004.

Orlando "Hurricane" Antigua was the first player on the team (1995-2002) born in the Dominican Republic.

Wendyl "Brutus" Daniel of Trinidad, and Jefferson Sobral, Brazil, are other members not born in U.S. assets.

"When my brother was playing basketball I was with him. One day he stopped playing and I went, I was always with the ball. All my friends always see me with a ball, "said Rodriguez, who joined the basketball team of his school.

"After the school I stopped playing for four years and studied martial arts, but I fell in love again after the ball. I said, 'I have to play with a team, is in my heart' and I started to practice more, to do more tricks, "he said.

His passion for basketball led him to create his own show with a ball that appeared in professional basketball games (NBA), schools, private parties and where requested, which took him throughout the U.S., London and Japan.

Even won a competition of football freestyle and during a talent search for the Globetrotters was recommended by a friend.

"In 2007 I was called to send them a video," after which was a four-person team invited to play (to see their skills), recalled Rodriguez, who since then became part of the team.

"I was very happy, excited, almost going to mourn, it was something I always wanted to make little, play with the Globetrotters, and is a spectacular show well. I once thought were impossible things they did, "he said.

Rodriguez is known among the fans as "Blenda" and told Efe reason.

"They say I'm like a blender (blender, in English), I move fast, I'm always turning the ball over," said the player, who joked, noting that his 5'8 tall (1.77 meters) is the shortest of the team.

The player and parent of a child of seven, Jaden, was proud of his Hispanic origin and pleased with the way this community is to the Globetrotters, and by doing humanitarian work, visiting hospitals "seeking a smile on patients. This is what we are. "

Rodriguez has great expectations for the game next Tuesday at the track on the famous ice Central Park in New York, against the Washington Generals, for they will use special footwear.

That game will be the prelude to the total of six that will be at Madison Square Garden, the Nassau County Coliseum on Long Island and the Izod Center in New Jersey.

His only regret Rodriguez is being away from his only son by his travels with the Globetrotters, but, he notes, thanks to technology that can see and talk to him frequently.