Barefoot Youth Basketball Superstars

[Longboard]

"A team of Trique Indian boys swept through a youth basketball tournament despite their generally short stature and the fact that most play barefoot, earning acclaim in Mexico and abroad...................
........The team from the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca won all six of its games to become this year's champions at the International Festival of Mini-Basketball held recently in Argentina.Children are given tennis shoes when they join the team, but many don't wear the sneakers because they are accustomed to going barefoot, Merino said."
Full story here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/shoeless-mexico-indian-kids-win-basketball-20590311

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Offered shoes! We haven't damaged enough feet around the world. Our mission isn't finished. We must damage more! sigh. At least most kids reject them.

 

[Sid]

The headline should be "Smart basketball champs decline offer of ill-fitting mass market sneakers"
www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1017/Shoeless-Indian-boys-No-Nikes-needed-to-win-basketball-tournament

C'mon, those boys would be stumbling all over the court after cramming their feet into regular shoes.

Then the headline would be "Nike sponsorship sends champs straight to the bottom"

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Exactly. Look at those normal, natural feet. They could never fit into a pair of narrow-last, narrow-toe box shoes.

 

[Sid]

Apparently, no problems with low arches or overpronation.

It's not really fair, if the other teams were handicapped with shoes.