John Calipari reveals how community outreach builds team mentality

Kentucky coach John Calipari puts a big emphasis on community outreach within the Wildcats program. This week, he detailed just how much it helps with building a team’s mentality.

Calipari, speaking outside a team service event at Pillar in Crestwood this week, said giving back to the community can help on the court. It teaches the players to be selfless, and that’s a big part of becoming a leader once game time rolls around.

“Part of being a good teammate — people talk about, ‘We’re going to do the whole listing. We’re not just about basketball.’ Alright, what do you do?” Calipari said. “Are you just talking it? Or are you doing it? And I think when you do this, it’s about serving leadership. It’s about understanding that you’re not better than anybody. You’re just more fortunate. Now, all of a sudden, when you become that kind of teammate, that’s what it’s about. Caring about others more than you care about yourself.

“If you get that mindset as a team, now you’re unbeatable. Now, all of a sudden, you’ve got talent and you’re caring about one another and this is all part of that step. But it’s aside from basketball. My hope is the rest of their lives.”

Two former Kentucky stars — John Wall and Devin Booker — have won the season-long NBA community assist award since 2015 and Karl-Anthony Towns won the November award during the 2021-22 season. Calipari said he hopes the community outreach programs at Kentucky helped show those players the impact of giving back even after they left Lexington.

“You see our guys in the NBA that win that community assist award,” Calipari said. “That’s giving back to communities. Hopefully, they learned that while they were here.”

Kentucky basketball stars detail team bonding, Bahamas trip

Kentucky will spend a week abroad in the Bahamas in August. The team will use the trip to prepare for the upcoming 2022-2023 season.

A few of the Wildcats players understand the importance of this trip and what it will mean for their chemistry heading into next season. Jacob Toppin highlighted that during a recent media session at Georgetown.

“Team bonding has been going well,” Toppin said. “We do a lot of things outside of basketball that help build that connection between one another. We’ve been bowling, went to the movies, just trying to stay connected in ways that we can off the court. And the Bahamas is definitely going to be big for us because not only are we going there to see how we play with one another.

“We’re going there, and we’re gonna do some things out there that are gonna help build more chemistry between us. So, it’s gonna be big.”