The world-famous Harlem Globetrotters are “Pushing the Limits” in so many amazing ways.

They’re embarking on a world tour that will bring their high-energy basketball show to more than 250 North American cities — including Pittsburgh on Dec. 26 — and 30 countries into 2020.

They also added six new Guinness World Records to their team total of 22 in one day on Nov. 14, with Hammer Harrison’s longest underhand basketball shot of 85 feet, Bull Bullard’s furthest behind-the-back dunk of 42 feet and Wham Middleton’s most figure-eight moves with the ball in one minute while blindfolded, 63 – and that’s just half of the records the team broke that day.

They still continue to make time in their busy schedules as goodwill ambassadors, visiting young patients in children’s hospitals nationwide and traveling to schools as part of an anti-bullying campaign created by the team and the National Campaign to Stop Violence.

Training camp

The Tribune-Review recently spoke with one of the Globetrotters — 15-season veteran Scooter Christensen from Las Vegas, Nev. — by phone at the team’s training camp facility near Atlanta, Ga., where they were preparing to kick off their “Pushing the Limits” tour the day after Christmas.

Christensen is proud of his own Guinness World Record that he still maintains for the longest duration spinning a basketball on his nose at 7.7 seconds.

“I’m holding on to that one,” he said. “It’s one of the tricks the kids love to see. It took me a lot of nose burns and bleeds to get there.”

Some of the other aspects of a Globetrotters’ performance that are especially entertaining to young spectators include “our high-fives and dancing with them – and after the show, when we sign autographs and take photos with them,” he said.

‘The Fifth Quarter’

The Globetrotters’ “Pushing the Limits” tour includes a few new additions, including a new segment known as “The Fifth Quarter,” the post-game autograph sessions where fans have an opportunity to meet the team’s stars up close and personal.

Also new to the 2020 tour will be a segment when the players attempt to set a different new world record at each venue. In some markets, the Globetrotters also will perform their pregame “Magic Circle,” where they warm up in the dark, passing around a glow-in-the-dark basketball.

Christensen said he “had no idea” he would end up on the Globetrotters’ team growing up, although he’s been devoted to the game of basketball since he was 5 years old.

“I knew at a young age that I wanted to play or coach the game I was so passionate about,” he said.

He was part of his high school team when they won a state championship and he went on to play at the University of Montana, where his team won the NCAA tournament in 2002. He also played in other leagues before becoming an assistant video coordinator and practice player for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, where he was first noticed by a Globetrotters’ scout.

Smiles and laughter

For Christensen, the best part of his job is making fans smile.

“We know everybody has bad days,” he said, “but if we see you at a Globetrotters game, you’re gonna be smiling or laughing for a good while. No matter where we go — even to places where we don’t speak the same language — smiles and laughter are a universal language.”

The Harlem Globetrotters will do two shows in Pittsburgh when they kick off their “Pushing the Limits” tour on Dec. 26 at PPG Paints Arena. Two other units of the team will perform the same day in Boston and Chicago.

A Magic Pass ticket upgrade includes a 30-minute interactive event held 90 minutes before show time. Tickets are $22 and must be purchased with a game ticket.

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