El Toro Elementary School principal Darren McDonald spins the ball on his finger during the Harlem Globetrotter anti-bullying event Sept. 14.

Bringing an anti-bullying message along with him to El Toro Elementary School, Harlem Globetrotter Anthony “Buckets” Blakes entertained local students with his flashy basketball skills at a pair of Sept. 14 assemblies on campus.
“This was an amazing event,” said El Toro principal Darren McDonald, whose school was selected by Channel 7 ABC/KGO staff to be a participant in their ABC Bully Prevention initiative. El Toro was one of three Bay Area schools chosen for the show.
El Toro, along with the other schools, will be featured on an Oct. 15 broadcast on Channel 7 centered around Bully Prevention Month. The newscast will begin at 6:30 p.m. A KGO camera crew and reporter went to campus and interviewed students.
At the center of the “Action, Bravery, Compassion” (ABC) Bully Prevention is the veteran Harlem Globetrotter who visits more than 100 schools each year across the country to spread the message. The Globetrotters designed the program in coordination with the National Campaign to Stop Violence (NCSV).
“We try to create a safe learning environment in our school so it’s important to bring people in from the outside to give students resources and strategies to prevent things on our campus,” McDonald said. “He did an amazing job. Our teachers said it was the best assembly they ever had. The kids were just so attentive. It was really a win-win for our community.”
In full uniform, Blakes, who told students that he was bullied in high school, talked to the children about how to diffuse situations and to walk away from them. He explained being brave does not mean confronting the bully, but rather to walk away and let an adult know what is going on. He also lectured students on having compassion for those who are being bullied.
“When families send kids to our campus, we want them to know we have a safe learning environment and we take matters seriously to prevent bullying,” McDonald said.
For the finale, Blakes called up a few kids to join him up front to teach them some special Globetrotter ball handling moves with “Sweet Georgia Brown” theme music playing.

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