LaVar Ball certainly isn’t known for going about his business in a conventional way, but this isn’t a new thing for the father of top-three NBA draft prospect Lonzo Ball.
Lonzo is the eldest of Ball’s three sons, who all have a shot at the NBA, thanks to a lifetime of working on their skills with their father and undoubtedly some natural talent. But Ball, who’s a personal trainer in addition to being what we guess you could call a dad-ager, didn’t start his training career with his sons.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne recently profiled Ball for ESPN The Magazine and learned this little tidbit about other beings he’s trained.
Before he had sons to work with, LaVar trained “pigeons, dogs, frogs. Anything.”
Pigeons?
“Yep,” he says. “I make pigeons just do backflips in the air when I clap my hands like that.”
Even Lonzo busts up laughing at that one.
LaVar keeps going.
“I’m a trainer. That’s my passion,” he says. “It ain’t basketball. My boys, their passion is balling.”
Ball also said he taught his three sons to walk by eight months and potty-trained them by 10 months, so it’s up to you to decide whether he’s exaggerating this time. Still, it’s hard to deny that seeing LaVar Ball make a pigeon do a backflip would be pretty darn cool.
Thumbnail photo via Richard Mackson/USA TODAY Sports Images
