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Pink Basketball Shoes Biography

Source:- Google.com.pk
High school basketball players wear pink sneakers to honor teammate's mother, promote breast cancer awareness

By Joe Rodriguez

Mercury News Columnist
Posted:   01/27/2012 03:52:22 PM PST0 Comments | Updated:   about a year ago

At 5 feet 6 inches tall, Grant Kajiwara Bantilan may be the shortest player on his high school varsity basketball team, but he whizzes past bigger opponents with speed and ferocity -- and the loudest pink sneakers to ever hit the hardwood.

"I didn't care what people thought about them," the tough-minded 17-year-old point guard said just before practice at Independence High School in East San Jose. "I wanted to honor my mom."

For two decades, pink has symbolized efforts on many fronts to eradicate breast cancer, which kills more American women younger than 50 than any other disease. Last year, after doctors discovered that Grant's mother had the disease, he quietly asked his parents for a pair of Kobe Bryant sneakers, approved by the NBA star for the breast cancer campaign in dazzling pink.

"You're going to wear pink basketball shoes on the court?" was Lisa Bantilan's surprised reaction when her son told her.

But instead of teasing him, all of his fellow 76ers supported the bold plan. Only three players don't have the shoes and that's because they couldn't find the color in their sizes.

Greg Duarte, the no-nonsense head coach, remembered his initial reaction.

"Dude, that's awesome!" he told Grant. Then he bought a pair of his own.

Playing for a cause

After losing every game last year, the 76ers moved down a division this year and find themselves undefeated and in first place. But Duarte and the players credit teamwork, not the solidarity of pink. It's still basketball, they declare, not a fashion show or medical pep rally.
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At a recent game against Evergreen Valley High, with the 76ers off to a sluggish start in the first quarter, Duarte sent in the speedy Grant.

It's impossible to pinpoint the turnaround or credit one player over others, but with Grant on the floor the team clawed back and took the lead at the half.

Up in the stands, his mother lustily cheered her son. In the heat of excitement she yanked off her pink cap and exposed her bald head.

"He's the spark plug of the team," said Grant's favorite cheerleader. After a double mastectomy, Lisa Bantilan is enduring chemotherapy, a rugged treatment with many side effects. "I got over losing my hair after a while."

When Grant was a freshman, Bantilan and her husband, Vincent, and a few other parents started a booster club to raise money for the school's athletic programs. Back then, the superintendent had threatened to abolish all interscholastic sports.

The school board eventually forced him out, but sports at Silicon Valley's largest school, with more than 3,000 students, remains on the chopping block. Athletes must pay for uniforms, balls, netting, insurance and even bus transportation to games.

"We probably wouldn't have some sports without the booster club," said the club's president, Kathy Yao.

Every year since Grant made the basketball team, the Bantilans have hosted a party for every sports team at the school. No wonder the basketball players didn't think twice about wearing pink shoes in her honor.

"I got to know his mother at that party," said Thomas Estifanos, 17, the team's towering center. "She's a nice lady."

Except for a handful of clueless hecklers, opposing fans and players have applauded the 76ers pink crusade.

"I think it's cool," said Khong Do, a junior varsity player for Evergreen Valley. "It's for breast cancer, you know."

In honor of her battle

Still, despite breast cancer awareness, when Grant is asked to explain more of his motivations, he gets a little circumspect.

"I've always been aware of breast cancer," he said in a hush. "I went on the Internet and saw that pink was the color."

Mom knows that side of her deep-thinking and feeling son.

"Getting information out of him -- you know, he's a 17-year-old boy," Lisa Bantilan said. "It's difficult."

It turns out Grant was quietly reeling from more than one cancer shock. His maternal grandmother, Lillian Kajiwara, who lived with the Bantilans and practically raised Grant, died of lung cancer two years ago.

"When she passed he never showed any emotion," said his mom. "He internalizes everything."

Or maybe Grant simply expresses himself in his own, quiet way. When his mother's cancer was diagnosed, in addition to the shoes, Grant asked his parents for permission to get a tattoo on his upper arm of the Kajiwara family crest -- two overlapping feathers in a circle -- and inscribed according to Japanese tradition by a Japanese tattoo artist.

"I was honored that he was honoring me and his grandmother with the family crest," said Lisa Bantilan, "but I never asked if it was because we both had cancer. We don't talk about cancer in the family. We never have."

As the 76ers took the lead over Evergreen Valley and raced to a convincing win, the proud mom noted that her son plays unselfishly, frequently passing the ball to others when he might take the shot himself.

If booster Bantilan could change one part of Grant's game?

"He needs to drive to the basket more often!"

And really fly in those pink shoes.

Pink Basketball Shoes Basketball Shoes 2014 For Girls Nike for Kds Jordans for Women For Men Photos

Pink Basketball Shoes Basketball Shoes 2014 For Girls Nike for Kds Jordans for Women For Men Photos

 Pink Basketball Shoes Basketball Shoes 2014 For Girls Nike for Kds Jordans for Women For Men Photos 

 Pink Basketball Shoes Basketball Shoes 2014 For Girls Nike for Kds Jordans for Women For Men Photos

 Pink Basketball Shoes Basketball Shoes 2014 For Girls Nike for Kds Jordans for Women For Men Photos 

 Pink Basketball Shoes Basketball Shoes 2014 For Girls Nike for Kds Jordans for Women For Men Photos 

 Pink Basketball Shoes Basketball Shoes 2014 For Girls Nike for Kds Jordans for Women For Men Photos 

 Pink Basketball Shoes Basketball Shoes 2014 For Girls Nike for Kds Jordans for Women For Men Photos

 Pink Basketball Shoes Basketball Shoes 2014 For Girls Nike for Kds Jordans for Women For Men Photos

 Pink Basketball Shoes Basketball Shoes 2014 For Girls Nike for Kds Jordans for Women For Men Photos 

 Pink Basketball Shoes Basketball Shoes 2014 For Girls Nike for Kds Jordans for Women For Men Photos