Lakers Pau Gasol awarded the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award by PBWA – NBA Update
On Friday, the Professional Basketball Writers Association (PBWA) deemed Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers as a worthy recipient of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, for his excellent charity work which involves being
the UNICEF Ambassador and his dedication to work in Children`s Hospitals.
Hailing from a Spanish family which has worked in the field of medicine throughout their lives, Gasol has always had the tendency to help out others and make their lives better. Speaking humbly to the reporters when he found out
about the award, Gasol considered it to be a great honour.
He also contemplated that it is a feat of approbation for any individual to be able to help out others and be a model figure to young kids growing up.
"It's a great honour for any player to receive,” Gasol said, "When you have an opportunity to have a positive impact on somebody's life, especially for me around kids, it's worth all the dedication,"
Gasol has been doing such charity work for the past seven years. In that time, he has travelled all across the globe to raise awareness to people regarding UNICEF, but his main focus of attention has been the health and education
care for young kids.
He has been working with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital excessively;
"It fulfils a lot in me as a person, as a human being," Gasol said. "To me, that's above and beyond basketball. Obviously, basketball has allowed me to have these opportunities, and that's why I feel so fortunate, but to me it's
much stronger, much more powerful than the basketball game."
Gasol was interested in a career in the medical field at the age of 11 after finding out the NBA legend Magic Johnson had announced that he had been afflicted with HIV. He has also attended classes at the Barcelona Universities
Pre-Med program before taking up basketball as a profession.
Gasol also become the second consecutive Laker to win this award. His team mate, Metta World Peace then Ron Artest, was the recipient of this award last year for his work to raise awareness about Mental Health.
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