Rochester school surprised by LeBron James visit: "It was super surreal"
ROCHESTER, Minn. — One of the greatest basketball players of all time made a Rochester school his training facility last week.
LeBron James spent five days working out at Rochester Lourdes High School and then gave a motivational speech on Friday.
"A couple weeks ago, got an email from the Lakers travel manager," said activities director Eric Larson.
Getting a random email from an NBA team on behalf of a basketball legend just screams practical joke — but it wasn't.
"Right away you're a little skeptical when it's somebody that notable. But kind of the closer and closer it got it was kind of like all right, he's coming," said Larson, who is also the boys' basketball coach.
"We all had our own speculations, but none of us thought that LeBron James was gonna be at our school," said David Scully.
A senior basketball player, Scully's coach told him to show up at the gym and be ready to practice. But at first, he didn't know why.
Turns out, in this school of just over 300 students, Scully was one of only four basketball players selected to rebound for LeBron.
"I looked over my shoulder and I saw him standing in the weight room and I was just, 'Oh my gosh, LeBron James is in our weight room,'" he said.
LeBron brought his own NBA regulation basketballs and used the weight room at various times throughout the week. He also ran sprints on the football field. It's believed he was in town while his son received medical care at Mayo Clinic.
LeBron capped off the week by giving a motivational speech to the entire school.
"I thought it was super surreal and I thought it was super cool that he was nice enough to talk to us and share some of his wisdom," said girls' basketball player Caroline Daly.
"I still can't believe that last week I was in the same space as LeBron, and that I was 10 feet away from him at that time. I even shook his hand," Scully said.
LeBron gave a five-minute speech to the students on Friday and urged them to work hard and accomplish their dreams.