<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> As one of the NBA's most versatile defenders, Bruce Bowen has guarded everyone from Kobe Bryant to 7-foot Dirk Nowitzki. His goal is always the same: Stay in front of his man. Keep a hand in his face. That strategy apparently doesn't work quite as well against elephants. Bowen found himself staring down a herd of the 15,000-pound beasts Saturday morning at a South African nature preserve. He had no interest in taking a charge. "I flopped on this one," Bowen said, laughing. Bowen and his wife, Yardley, spent the past week in Africa as part of the NBA's Basketball Without Borders program. He called the trip one of the most "enlightening" he has taken ? and not just because he had the opportunity to feed the wildlife. "I've been a lot of places," Bowen said by phone from Johannesburg. "I've visited my in-laws in Cuba, I've seen people who are just surviving on their spirit. But some of the things I saw here ... " Bowen was among 12 current or former NBA players selected to serve as coaches at the camp. Spurs general manager R.C. Buford and director of pro player personnel Dell Demps also helped direct the camp, which brought together Africa's top teen-age players. Two years ago, Buford invited one of the African camp's participants, Alexis Wangmene, to live with him in San Antonio. Wangmene, who played the past two seasons at Central Catholic, committed to the University of Texas last week. He is expected to join the Longhorns for the 2007-08 season. In addition to working at this year's camp, Bowen helped dedicate a new dining facility at Ithuteng Trust, a school for impoverished children. Many of the children are orphans and have been victimized by sexual abuse or the region's political violence. The players also visited a hospice for children living with AIDS, a shantytown where the residents' only electricity came from an old car battery, and the Apartheid Museum. "I wish I would have been able to learn a lot of this history in school," Bowen said. "Basically, all we had heard about Nelson Mandela was when he was released." During his visit to Ithuteng Trust, Bowen was surprised to learn one boy had been asking to meet him. Said Bowen: "When I saw him, he yelled, 'Bruce, what's up baa-bee?' It seemed like he learned all his English from television." Basketball's popularity hasn't grown nearly as fast in Africa as in Europe and other continents because of the lack of facilities and infrastructure. Bowen visited one basketball academy in Senegal where the gym didn't have lights. "But the kids were still in there playing like it was the Forum," he said. "If they could get someone to teach them the fundamentals and coach them ? a lot more than we could do in a week ? the teams here would be dominant." Before leaving for Africa, Bowen watched his own country lose in the semifinals of the world championships. Bowen was the last player cut from the U.S. roster but hasn't ruled out trying to make the team for next summer's Olympic qualifying tournament. </div> Source
