{"id":290269,"date":"2026-07-08T14:08:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/290269\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T14:08:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:08:15","slug":"basketball-camp-gives-homeless-new-york-city-youth-a-strong-start-to-summer-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/290269\/","title":{"rendered":"Basketball camp gives homeless New York City youth a strong start to summer \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around 40 young people ages 5 to 16 kicked off their summer break by practicing their dribbling and rebounding skills at a basketball camp at P.S. 270 in Clinton Hill on July 2.\n<\/p>\n

Win<\/a>, the largest provider of shelter and supportive housing for homeless families in New York City, teamed up with PLYMKRS Foundation and HoopBus<\/a> to host the inaugural event, providing a fun and engaging summer activity for homeless youth, Whitaker Wright, Win\u2019s assistant vice president of program support services, told Brooklyn Paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy is amazing; it\u2019s been really terrific. [The youth are] enjoying themselves, having a good time socializing, and getting the summer kicked off right,\u201d Wright said. \u201cThey are ready to hoop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine-year-old El\u2019tavion, a basketball and soccer fan, was looking forward to improving his dribbling and dunking skills.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to learn about basketball and how to control my movement, and to shoot,\u201d El\u2019tavion told Brooklyn Paper.\n<\/p>\n

The camp\u2019s curriculum included two basketball stations in the gymnasium, where 30 volunteers \u2014 five of them professional basketball trainers \u2014 taught the young people the fundamentals of the game, including shooting, dribbling, passing and defense. A breathwork station taught participants breathing techniques to manage fatigue, anxiety and stress, both on and off the court, while the HoopBus, decked out in Knicks orange and blue, offered entertainment including a dunk contest. Each participant also received a free pair of sneakers.<\/p>\n

\"\"40 young people learned the fundamentals of basketball.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Jasmine Hill, who co-founded PLYMKRS in 2023 with Kenny St. George and Sam Blackmon, told Brooklyn Paper that the nonprofit started as a weekly free coed open run for adults before expanding to basketball clinics for young people. The organization empowers inner-city youth by using basketball as a vehicle to propel them toward their athletic, academic and professional aspirations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in New York, which is the mecca of basketball, and you know, basketball here is not free, not for adults, not for kids,\u201d Hill said, noting that as the child of two educators, she recognized the importance of providing young people with avenues to become successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that\u2019s in the classroom, on the field, on the court, at home, wherever it may be. Just being able to be a part of pushing that forward for them has been such a blessing and a privilege,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n

St. George said the event aimed to make young people feel seen, valued and supported by showing them that people are invested in their growth and future, especially those facing challenging circumstances.<\/p>\n

\"\"New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams (second from right) said the basketball camp provided much-needed access to sports while allowing \u201ckids to be kids.\u201dPhoto by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is about pouring back into the youth; giving them the opportunities that we needed as children, and I think doing something like this with Win is extremely special,\u201d St. George said, encouraging others to support the organizations through donations or volunteering. \u201cI just want to just continue to encourage everybody to pour into our youth as much as you can because they are truly going to be the people that hold tomorrow for us. So let\u2019s try to instill the right things in them now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremy John Kaplan founded HoopBus in 2020 in Venice, California, and told Brooklyn Paper that the basketball camp aligned with the organization\u2019s mission to build community through basketball by providing youth programming, renovating neglected basketball courts, and supplying resources such as meals for communities in need, sports equipment and sneakers.<\/p>\n

\"\"The HoopBus brings basketball activities and entertainment to participants during a youth basketball camp in Clinton Hill.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Volunteers work with young participants during basketball skills stations at P.S. 270 in Clinton Hill.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really believe in the transformative power of basketball and bringing it to kids that will benefit from it the most,\u201d Kaplan said. \u201cI think that the bus really represents the holistic energy around the sport of basketball, and the way that motion changes emotion, and kind of building life skills through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooklyn lawmakers State Sen. Jabari Brisport, Assembly Member Phara Souffrant Forrest and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams joined the young people for some hoop fun, stressing the importance of empowering young people who live in underresourced communities through events like the basketball camp.<\/p>\n

Events like the basketball camp not only provide summer enrichment but also create a sense of community among young people, Brisport noted.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially for someone that may not feel they have a community if they\u2019re in transitional housing. It\u2019s a chance to build with some people for the summer and be like, this is my crew, these are my friends, and maybe some of them become lifelong friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[It] show everyone matters and that we need to empower people wherever they\u2019re at,\u201d Souffrant Forrest added.
\n\"\"Left to right: State Sen. Jabari Brisport, Jade Vasquez and Whitaker Wright attend the inaugural youth basketball camp at P.S. 270 in Clinton Hill on July 2.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann\n<\/p>\n

Williams, who is still riding high on \u201cKnicks in Five,\u201d<\/a> jokingly quoted the Knicks\u2019 NBA championship as \u201cthe most important thing in the world right now.\u201d He noted that organizations like Win, PLYMKRS and HoopBus provide much-needed access to sports while allowing \u201ckids to be kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I like about Playmakers is they have people who didn\u2019t necessarily go to the NBA, some people went overseas, some people just played in college, but they were able to use that experience to open up doors to so many other things that kids may not be thinking about, and sometimes you don\u2019t think about it unless you see it, you feel it, you touch it,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Around 40 young people ages 5 to 16 kicked off their summer break by practicing their dribbling and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4567,110941,20995,110942,110943,28312,9,24,55,54,12,370,56,110944,110945,319,16348],"class_list":["post-290269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-basketball","tag-basketball-camp","tag-homeless","tag-hoopbus","tag-jasmine-hill","tag-kids-and-education","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-ny","tag-plymkrs","tag-plymkrs-foundation","tag-sports","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}