Ever fancied going to Brazil and playing football for a team managed by Pele?

How about being picked as leg spinner for a Shane Warne XI, racing a horse owned by Lester Piggot or learning to long jump with Bob Beamon.

Brighton Bears skipper Randy Duck has done the basketball equivalent and he admits it was a great experience. Eventually.

Duck played for the previously low profile Oklahoma Storm this summer as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, all-time top points scorer in the NBA with 38,387, embarked on his first role as a head coach.

The Bears star is reluctant to tell too many secrets of Abdul-Jabbar's coaching style but has intriguing tales from the United States Basketball League, which is seen as a back door into the big time.

Duck was one of the USBL's lucky ones. He had a secure contract to come back to in England and had already resigned himself to not making the NBA.

For others though it was a fraught existence as they desperately strove to fulfil dreams or just keep money coming in.

Duck, back at Brighton in time to coach at the Bears summer camp, helped Storm win the play-offs but admitted things did not always run smoothly.

He said: "There were a couple of times where I could have taken a flight home and not batted an eyelid but in the end it worked out and I'm pleased I did it.

"In minor league basketball there are surprises around every corner.

"It's a week to week deal. You can be there one week and home the next. It's very cut throat, very American, and it was good to get back into that."

He added: "We did a lot of bussing around. There were seven-hour trips, then get of the bus and play a game.

"These guys have played in the NBA or are one move away from that. They can go up or down. It just depends on their summer. When there is an opportunity like that in the States they take it very seriously. It brings out the best in players every night."

Inevitably, Storm attracted huge media coverage as the American basketball public waited to see whether their hero could make it as a coach.

Duck, who was joined in Oklahoma by Bears duo Albert White and Sterling Davis, insisted that did not inconvenience them too much.

He said: "There were certain games where we had teams atrracting 500 people up to 3,000 when we came into town.

"There was a little bit of a media blitz but we never really felt it, Kareem dealt with it head on."

Results helped Abdul-Jabbar. Davis was a key contributor, one of the best three players in the league in Duck's view.

It is only when asked to assess Abdul-Jabbar's coaching style that the Bears star is less forthcoming.

He said: "It was interesting. I'd rather leave it at that.

"Kareem has been either involved with some of the greatest players in basketball.

"Whether or not he will be a good coach, you flip a coin.

"It's not just about coaching. There's politics and favours and a whole list of things that come into it."

At least he has a coaching prize to go with the six NBA Championships and 18 All-Star games he enjoyed as a player. And this one was made possible by three Bears.

Brighton Bears put youngsters through a week of expert basketball coaching as the game continued to thrive in Sussex.

Bears' summer camp, headed by coach Nick Nurse, saw nearly 100 youngsters, aged 8-18, up at 7am each day to enjoy a packed week of coaching and games.

Nurse would rally troops each morning with a call of "How are we feeling campers?", to which youngsters replied: "Super good coach Nurse."

His assistant Steve Swanson, BBL stars Mark Jackson and Randy Duck, community coach Mark Richards and Brighton Cougars' Brian Snyder and Steve McQueen were among the team of instructors.