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Star’s still haunted by school bullies

Nick Towle
9/12/2004

BASKETBALL giant John Amaechi launched a project to save hundreds of children from being bullied in school playgrounds this week - and revealed: "I was a victim too."

The 6ft 10ins former NBA star, who weighs more than 20 stones, has lent his name to an anti-bullying campaign to help youngsters who have suffered the same trauma as himself.

The project, which is being piloted in south Manchester, is an NSPCC initiative under which children are handed 'Z' cards - a booklet about the size of a credit card that provides them with useful contact numbers, information and advice.

The 34-year-old basketballer, who has been handing out the booklets at the John Amaechi Basketball Centre he set up for youngsters at Whalley Range High School, admits he still lives with the trauma he went through as a schoolboy in Stockport, where he was teased mercilessly about his weight.

He said: "I know from personal experience that bullying can scar you for life. I may have become a professional athlete with an athletic figure, but back then I was quite podgy and I was teased about it relentlessly.

"Even now I won't take my shirt off in public; any time I go on a beach I still put my granddad's string vest on. The only place I'll go swimming is in my back garden in the States."

John, who has two homes in Phoenix and south Manchester, stood out as a boy because of his stature - he was not only fat but extraordinarily tall for his age - but he also suffered racial abuse. He says the teasing was more verbal than physical

"Everybody thinks it's really improbable for someone as big as me to be bullied; they think that nobody would dare. But when I was younger I wasn't as big as I am now, and people were just ruthless about how fat I was.

"There were so many kids doing it and nobody was doing anything about it. I felt completely helpless. My experience is not half as bad as what some people have to go through, but it shows that it doesn't matter how big and tough you are.

"It taught me that you can't be expected to deal with it on your own. I dealt with it by bottling it up. You turn in on yourself, and try to handle it by keeping your head down and pretending it doesn't hurt.

"But the name-calling made me feel really paranoid and I became very introverted.

"Even in my basketballing days it didn't matter how good I looked or the shape I was in - that has been the legacy of bullying in my life."

John, who starred for Utah Jazz, the Houston Rockets and New York Knicks before leaving the NBA for England, is an active supporter of the NSPCC and many other children's charities including Prevent Child Abuse America and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

He says 'Z' cards are the ideal way to reach out to bulled youngsters because the information inside comes from children themselves.

The card offers advice on issues headlined 'What is bullying?, 'How does it make you feel?, 'The rules of friendship', and 'Who can you turn to?'.

"The idea behind 'Z' cards is to change the whole community's attitude towards bullying," said John.

"There is this attitude among some people that it is a rite of passage you have to go through and makes you stronger and harder. These are lies that the bullies are told."