We were the Knicks honorary ball kids
Kidsday reporters Humberto Guevara, left, and Jose Munguia stand on the sidelines as honorary ball kids at a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden on April 1, 2019. Credit: MSG Photos/Michelle Farsi
Monday night was an amazing, exciting, great night. We were given the opportunity to go to the April 1 Knicks game against the Chicago Bulls and be honorary ball kids for the game. It was a lot of fun.
Before the actual pregame warmups, we were courtside and watched many of the players practice shooting. The players shot three-pointers, free throws and half-court shots. They also were practicing with their managers, and we saw how hard you have to work before the game even begins.
As the players came out for their final pregame warmup, we gave high-fives to all the Knicks as they ran out onto the court. Then our work began. We had to rebound the ball and pass back to the players. Our favorite part was passing the ball to Kevin Knox. He is our favorite player on the team. We nicknamed him triceratops because he is a cool guy.
There were performances from the Knicks City Dancers. There was also a Junior Knicks team that got to play a game before the real game started. One guy got to make free throws to win up to $1,000 in 30 seconds. He had only 10 shots to win the money.
The Knicks gave us swag bags. The sports bag had the Knicks emblem. Inside the bag were two shirts, two hats (a cap and a winter hat) and a PopSocket with the Knicks emblem.
We know that basketball players are tall, but you never really realize how tall they are until they are right next to you. We were given instructions to make sure we made eye contact with the players to show that we were going to pass the ball to them. Some of the players told us that we gave them a nice pass. We got to see them dunk, and one of the players actually did a windmill, which was so cool to watch. We were in front of them when they were dunking.
Kidsday reporters Humberto Guevara, left, and Jose Munguia on the court with the Knicks returning the ball during warmup as honorary ball kids. Credit: Newsday/Pat Mullooly
After that, we were led to the center of the court. When we were in the center, we were on the screen of the Jumbotron and took a picture with power forward Henry Ellenson. After that we stood behind the players for the national anthem. The person who sang it was Syndee Winters, who plays the character Nala in "The Lion King" on Broadway. Finally, we lined up to give high-fives to the players as the starting lineup was announced. Then we got to go to our seats and enjoy the game.
When the game started we were excited. The Knicks went against a good team, the Chicago Bulls, and it was a challenge. But at the end the Knicks pulled it off and won the game. The score was 113-105. The Knicks dominated. At the start of the game, the Knicks were popping off and making most of their shots. In the beginning the Bulls were fouling a lot and the Knicks made all of their free throws, which was amazing. The Bulls then began catching up to the Knicks, and that's what made the game intense. But luckily the Knicks won the game because of the fouls the Bulls made way back at the start of the game.
Another cool thing Madison Square Garden has is a touch screen to see the players just outside the basketball court, and highlights of a good play they made in other games. That was the very first thing we did before heading into the court and the last thing we did before we left. The game and the experience are something we will never forget.
