Meet JoRdan
2022 Friendship Games Ambassador from Brooklyn
July 28, 2022
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I lived in Brownsville the majority of my life. I live with my mother, grandmother, my brother and my three sisters. What’s unique about where I live is the mentality. Everyone that lives in Brownsville goes by the saying, “We never ran, never will,” and that saying sticks with you in everything you do.
Q: What's the one thing that you'd want people to know about you?
I’m a great leader
Q: Do you have a special talent that most people don't know about?
Not really, everyone knows my talents. I show ‘em my talents – I'm funny. I'm athletic. And I’m a gamer.
Q: Who's your hero? Why?
I have three. My mother, my grandmother, and I'll probably say my third one is Jimmy Butler. My mother and grandmother gave up a lot of stuff, but they gave me the opportunity I got now. And they always kept pushing. And Jimmy Butler, part of his story is similar to mine. It's inspiring because knowing that he came from nothing and made it out and is as big as he is now, it's inspiring. It pushes me to be better every day.
Q: What do you think are the most important attributes of a leader?
Have to show confidence, easy to talk to. I'm going to say that I'm open to a lot of things. Open to suggestions. Not a hard person to talk to.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about Friendship Games?
All of the activities and meeting new people.
Q: Will it be your first time on an airplane? In another country? If so, what are you looking forward to about visiting another country? How do you feel about traveling abroad without your family?
My first time on a plane and in a new country. I’m looking forward to seeing things like how other people live outside of the U.S. It won’t be my first time without my family. I mean, traveling around for basketball is normal, cause I'm trying to get used to traveling around for basketball. So that's what I'm trying to do in life.
Q: Is there anything you're nervous or unsure about going to the Friendship Games?
I’m nervous about flying.
Q: Why do you think PeacePlayers wants to bring together 130 young people from around the world?
To add more family, I guess – more connections. I think we're all going to learn to be better people and better leaders out of it. And grow to be more communicative instead of being all quiet. Because the world do need leaders right now. So I feel like that's what they're trying to get us to get out of it.
Q: If you could do anything you wanted when you grew up, what would it be/what's your biggest dream for the future - for yourself, for your family, for your community?
For me, to be an NBA player. And if not that, to own a team. For my family, I don’t want them to work at all when I get older. For my community, that it gets safer.
Q: What's it like in your city/town/neighborhood? How would you describe it to someone who's never been there?
Brownsville is dangerous, but it's like a big family. If you go outside, everybody knows everybody. Nobody really doesn't know anybody. And once you get to know everybody, everybody look out for each other. There's a danger. That's only because of disagreements and stuff like that. And Brooklyn is full of opportunities, you’ve just got to know where to find them.
Q: If you could time travel for one hour, where would you go? What would you do?
I'll split it, 30 minutes and 30 minutes. The first 30 minutes I go to my grandmother for one last talk. And then the other 30, I’ll spend with my godbrother for one last laugh.
We followed up with Jordan during the Games to hear about his experience in real time. Here’s what he had to say!
Q: What's the most important thing you've learned this week?
Most important thing I learned this week is probably that everything is not only about basketball, it's about friendships, too, and the connections I make with other people.
Q: Can you say a little more about those connections, those friendships?
I got to learn more about different parts of the world and how different people live.
Q: Why do you think that's important?
So I have a better understanding of life and not everybody is like, fortunate as I am.
Q: What do you think of the potential of bringing young people from all over the world to one place? What's the power of that, of having all these people together?
I think there's power in bringing people, young people together from all over the world, because once we grow up, we can have a bigger impact on the world together better than all of us trying to do it alone.
Q: That's awesome. And what sort of things would you want to change, all together, if you could?
One thing I probably want to change is I'd say in Brooklyn, having little kids think they don't got nobody to talk to. So I’d start off with that.
Q: What was the thing you enjoyed the most? What was the most fun thing you did this week?
I'll probably say when we were doing the competitions. Yeah, 3v3. I liked the environment. Like everybody was coming together, having fun. Cheering one another on.
Q: Is there something that you learned or experienced this week that you're going to take home with you?
One thing I learned is, I think, it was George that said, he told me I gotta smile more and I feel like that would help me be more approachable because nobody's going to approach me with a mean face all the time and that smiling is less stress too.
