Ukrainian girls’ basketball team Club MOBI has been displaced from their native country, having spent the entirety of the war in that country in nearby Latvia training. Now in Massachusetts to play a number of teams in the US, the team had a chance to meet new Boston Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis, who happens to hail from their adopted home of Latvia.
“It was great to meet these young (Ukrainian) players,” said Porzingis via Boston.com’s Trevor Hass after he had a chance to get to know them at the Auerbach Center after his introductory press conference earlier this week.
“What an incredible timing of events, the fact that they were displaced there for the past year, then to be able to see someone from there,” shared Celtics Senior Director of Youth Development Chris Sparks.
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“They were just blown away with how it worked out,” they continued. “He was super great with them.”
The meeting was part of a week carved out by Sparks and his team to “take the pressure off the Ukrainian players and allow them to be kids and genuinely enjoy themselves” after long absences from home.
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