Landon Johnson

Landon Johnson

Most teenagers dream of working for a professional athletic team, seeing all the big stars up close and personal, waiting on them hand and foot. Well, Justin Sanders got the chance to live this dream and he told all about it.

Sanders is from, Athens, a small town southeast of Dallas. He was salutatorian of his class at LaPoyner High School in 2006, but that wasn’t his biggest accomplishment. Sanders had a very decorated career in basketball and won numerous awards his senior year alone. This led to him earning a scholarship to LeTourneau University in Longview,.

Sanders had to work his way into the Mavericks organization. He was asked to work basketball camps that the team had hosted every year by the man who was over them. The man knew that he was a good basketball player in high school so he asked him to come coach at the camps for him. Throughout the camps Justin met a lot of the players and his experiences with them began. “I got to go to the all-star game and work two NBA Finals,” said Sanders, which he thought were two pretty cool experiences. In 2009 he stopped working the camps. By this time he got to know the team’s mascot very well, whom which was in charge of a group called “Street Marketing Team” that set up fan experiences for fans on game day.

When asked about the athletes and their work ethic, Sanders said they are dedicated to their jobs and that they stay focused on what’s in front of them. “ All of them are in the position that they’re in because of hard work, a lot of people out there have the same ability and same skill, but only a small amount of them put in the time and effort to turn their skills from good to excellent,” said Sanders.

He also said that all the money they make comes from hard work and all the time that they put into it. Sanders  said the off-season is when they find the time to relax and take a lot of trips in engage in their own hobbies to pass the time away, relax and just take time away from the game. “One of the players likes to collect cars,” he said. “So during his off-season he buys expensive cars, like Ferrari and Lamborghini for example and he works on cars also.”

Another player, Shawn Marion liked to DJ, said Sanders, so he would go DJ at random clubs to pass the time. “A lot of the players use their own money which is how they are able to carry out a lot of their hobbies,” said Sanders, “but it’s money that they worked hard for and put a lot of work in to get.”

Sanders said one of the most fascinating stories was when Usher put in a request for an all-black basketball to use during his performance. So the stage manager approached Saunders and told him Usher’s request and told him to make it happen. So around he ran looking for black Sharpies to color the ball. Finally after an hour he got the ball done to find out that Usher only managed to use the ball for a few seconds then hurled it out into the crowd.

Thankful for all the experiences Sanders let go of the Mavericks organization to continue with school. After his sophomore year at LeTourneau University he transferred to SFA where he graduated in 2010 but chose to pursue his Master’s Degree and is set to graduate this December.