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COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina men’s basketball team continued its 2016 “8K In 8 Days” campaign on Monday with an event at the Brookland Lakeview Empowerment Center in West Columbia. Team members spent time with area children, teaching basketball skills and fundamentals. The campaign, which continues through July 13, aims to reach 8,000 fans in the greater Columbia community and the State of South Carolina with community outreach over the course of eight days.

Team members split into groups and taught basketball fundamentals such as shooting, dribbling and stretching at the 90-minute event on Monday night. Following the skills portion of the event, the kids were able to ask the Gamecock student-athletes questions such as their favorite NBA team, favorite food and their major in school during a question and answer session. Autographs and a rally towel giveaway concluded the event.

“This is a major event,” Rev. Dr. Charles B. Jackson, Senior Pastor at Brookland Baptist Church said of Monday’s event. “I strongly believe that the greatest investment that one can make is to invest in our youth, our children. For the men’s basketball team to come into the neighborhood where these children reside is huge.”

Gamecock senior guard Duane Notice also spoke about the impact the Gamecocks are making in the community through the “8K In 8 Days” campaign.

“It’s always good to give back to the community,” Notice said. “I feel like as a team, the ‘8K In 8 Days’ campaign helps us build camaraderie as a brotherhood, especially having the amount of freshmen coming in that we do, so for them to help us give back to the community is a great feeling for our team.”

Continue to visit GamecocksOnline.com for updates on the ‘8K In 8 Days’ campaign.