Pictured: Former Sun Devil Donnell Knight talks to the Miami Vandals basketball team about the importance of practicing and technique.

Former Arizona State basketball star Donnell Knight visited the Miami High School gym last Saturday (Sept. 22) to give the Vandals basketball team a rare opportunity for extra training before the hoops season officially kicks off in November.

Knight played for the Sun Devils from 1999-2003 and calls Tempe his hometown. He works with underprivileged kids in the Valley and came to Miami through a friendship developed with a Vandal player who participated in a league Knight coaches in Chandler.

“Coach Knight loves kids and wants to make a difference in their lives,” Miami High School basketball coach Ken Vargas said.

Knight is starting to work the team after giving them some time to rest and allow those in other sports to focus on something besides basketball, Vargas said.

“They packed a lot into the month of June, so I gave them some time off,” he said. “Some of them play football, so I wanted them to focus on that.”

Vargas has a long history in the Vandals’ basketball program, as he has coached in Miami schools for 33 years and has been at MHS since 2001. His father, Richard “Dickie” Vargas was a coach of the program for 35 years, Ken Vargas played for him on championship teams.

For two hours on Saturday, Knight ran the players through drills designed to sharpen their ball handling skills and increase their stamina on the court.

As the young men scrimmaged, Knight gave them advice they could take with them into life: “play on your toes”; “it’s all about balance and spacing”; “there are plenty of jobs, passing, shooting, rebounding and defending. You dictate how much you play.”

After the scrimmage, as the athletes waited for much-deserved pizza, Knight spoke about the importance of sports for local youths and the need for caring adults to get involved.

“Sports is about mind over matter,” he said. “I want to help spark that interest and help the kids raise their confidence level.”

For his part, Knight says he wants to “start planting [his] feet up here,” to give local high school athletes opportunities that exist in the Phoenix area, but might not be accessible in the more remote communities.

Knight said he does events like shoe drives in the Valley and he would like to do something like that in the Globe-Miami area, turning it into an event with food and entertainment for the students.

“Not everyone can afford the latest version of Air Jordans,” Knight said. “But I also want to instill in them a love of the game.”

Knight scrimmages with Vandal player Mario Pierce.