WATCH: Bulls Guard Jimmy Butler Visits Lisle’s Bulls/Sox Academy

Campers at Lisle’s Bulls/Sox Academy were paid a visit on Friday by Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler, who talked to kids about his path to professional sports and his grueling daily routine, the Daily Herald reports. 

According to the paper, Butler talked about how short and unskilled he was as a middle-school player, and how hard work and practice (and a lucky growth spurt) transformed him into the likely Bulls starter he is today—while noting that said dream does come with an all-day schedule of conditioning, training, practice and recovery.

"The one thing that I've learned from all of this is dreams do come true," the paper quoted Butler saying. "When I was your age, I had this dream of becoming a professional football player and then I switched, I wanted to be a professional basketball player.

“And I feel like I worked so incredibly hard. I was constantly in the gym… "As soon as I got done with my homework, as soon as I got done with school, I always wanted a basketball in my hands.” 

Read the full story at the Daily Herald website.