Thursday afternoon, just two days before they were to face off in an exhibition game, the Orlando Magic teamed with the Brazilian club Flamengo to host a youth basketball camp in Rio de Janeiro. Amway and the NBA, via its NBA Cares program, helped bring the event together Further, Getty photographer David Dow was on hand to document the camp, and a sample of his work appears in the gallery above this post.
As John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com writes, Magic chairman Dan DeVos, the son of team owner Rich DeVos, is pleased to see his club working hard in the community.
"Dad bought the team to see it make a difference and to see it happen in all different kinds of ways--ways we couldn’t even have anticipated back then--is amazing," said the chairman, who added, "we're thinking about how we can help others worldwide" as a result of this journey to Brazil.
The six Magic players who attended Thursday's camp are Channing Frye, Tobias Harris, Devyn Marble, Victor Oladipo, Jason Smith, and C.J. Watson. Several athletes from Flamengo also took part.
According to the Magic, the team and its employees have put in 6000-plus hours of community service over the last year, in addition to contributing $1 million in grants to nonprofit organizations.