Teens Shoot “Basketballs Instead of Guns”

by Sam Seliger
Guilford Gazette Intern

At the NAACP Youth Council second annual Hoopin’ for Teen Health 3-on-3 Co-Ed Charity Basketball Tournament  on Saturday, May 4th, teens and adults alike faced off in basketball games at Wilde Lake High School. The three teams of five played for over an hour in total in the round robin tournament.

But there was more than basketball for the 30 or  so players and spectators. The event also featured presentations from a variety of community leaders. Sergeant Kurt Wall came on behalf of the Howard County Sheriff’s Office and spoke about the importance of building a strong community. Wall also said that having a representative from the Sheriff’s office at an event like this one helps people to see law enforcement in a more positive light than “just coming to someone’s house and arresting them.”

Also speaking was Heidi Weiss-Beedie from the Howard County Health Department, talking about teen suicide prevention. Weiss-Beedie shared that suicide is the leading cause of death for youth ages 15-19 in Howard County. She promoted the Health Department’s new “It’s Okay To Ask” campaign that encourages teens to talk to each other about their mental health.

The final speaker was Robert Johnson, from My Brother’s Keeper. The organization, which was founded by President Barack Obama, aims to promote positive behavior and skills in young men of color. Johnson spoke about dating and domestic abuse.

Johnson, who is also an admissions officer at Bowie State University, also encouraged seniors to consider a late application to the HBCU, adding that full and partial scholarships are still available for high-achieving students.

The event attracted people for a variety of reasons. Anthony Wilson, from of the F.R.E.S.H. program, a DMV-area group that focuses on inspiring a positive outlook and teaching positive behavior in young men and women, wanted to support the NAACP Youth Council, which has partnered with his organization in the past. Wilson saw the event as an opportunity to influence youth in a positive way, remarking that “kids want to play basketball. So if you can get some kids to the gym, before they play ball, you get a chance to tell them about life choices.”

Marvin Evans, who came to help officiate the basketball games and to run skills practices, saw the athletics as an opportunity to teach life skills, offering that it “adds camaraderie, adds the team element of them working together, it adds the competition of them trying to do well and be the best they can be.”

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Noah Connor, who attends Reservoir High School, came to support the NAACP Youth Council. He thought that the speakers helped create positive connections in the community, and addressed issues that teens were facing.

The tournament is the project of Youth Council Vice President Isaac Allen, who created it last year in memory of his friend Xavier Young, who was killed in October 2017. Allen said that after his friend’s death, he “saw the effects of gun violence … and felt like there needed to be something to bring awareness.” He eventually came up with the idea of having “a basketball tournament, where youth come to shoot basketballs instead of guns.” But he wanted the event to do even more. As Youth Council President Camryn Harris put it, the event “was also to inform [teens] about gun violence and what was happening around them.”

The focus of the activism has since expanded beyond just gun violence. At the first event this year, current Student Member of the Board of Education Ambika Siddabathula spoke about student mental health, and speakers at this most recent event talked about teen suicide, domestic abuse prevention, and building a strong community.

This year, the tournament has three dates. The finale, May 18, also at Wilde Lake High School, is expected to be the biggest. Not only will there be speakers and sports, there will be a variety of foods, and music. River Hill rapper 4cah will perform, and there are plans to hire a DJ as well.