The unmistakable sound of basketballs dribbling and sneakers squeaking echoed throughout the fairly empty gym at Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball High School in the Bronx. The frigid air of the early morning did not deter the look of determination the players had as they warmed up and ran through practice drills before the tournament began.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, GoLeft Sports LLC put on a free high school student basketball tournament for Black and brown girls in the Bronx and Harlem. The program accepts girls from all different schools with varying levels of athleticism who are passionate about the sport.
The company was founded by Bronx native Nate Perry, 48, who has played basketball since he was 11 years old and went semi-pro. He has a son and daughter that enjoy the sport. He began coaching about three years ago and noticed that there were little resources available for young female players. He paid for the tournament and things like gym space, a DJ and announcer, referees, uniforms, prizes, and insurance fees on his own dime without sponsors, he said.
“I kind of noticed that there were a lot of programs for boys and really nothing for girls. So I made GoLeft Sports and created a middle school girls team,” said Perry.
Plenty of women’s health organizations are wholeheartedly behind the idea of promoting female empowerment through play and sports participation for all ages but especially for youth. The Women’s Sports Foundation, founded by the inimitable tennis player Billie Jean King in 1974, fully supports the federal law that mandates equal participation opportunities for male and female students in secondary and post secondary education. The foundation’s research found that sports participation has several benefits for girls and women: health and wellness through exercise, higher confidence and body positivity, a greater sense of sportsmanship and teamwork, and absorbing goal-setting skills that are helpful in workplace environments.
“A lot of programs want phenoms so they can compete at high levels, so if you’re not a phenom where do you go?” Perry asked. “Any girl that wants to play with us we don’t turn them away. We offer development and coaching and we don’t cut any players.”
The energy was infectious as the girls played and laughed with one another around the court the closer it got to starting time. Family members, cheerleaders, onlookers, media, and volunteers from the boys basketball team filed into the folding chairs set up along the courtside. Things kicked off with the freshmen girls playing a visiting girls team from Mount Carlisle. The girls at GoLeft changed into their blue and white uniforms with short inspirational slogans on the back of their jerseys.
It was their first game, said Coach Jeremy Logan, so he expected there to be some missteps. He finds coaching girls basketball more gratifying because they truly adopt the skills and technique necessary to excel at the game rather than rely on pure athleticism to showboat. GoLeft has coaches that also work at Earl Monroe High, a charter school that built its curriculum around basketball, education, advocacy, and anti-violence. Coaches Isiah Williams and Naomi Smith and cheerleading coach Genesia Shannon, as well as the cheer team, were all in attendance.
“I feel like my team could have played a little better, more teamwork but we did good overall,” said sophomore player Janie Ramirez after the game. She said she was pretty nervous throughout the game and missed several shots. She definitely wanted to persevere and got into the game after a while.
The older girls played the next few games with just as much fast paced vigor as any league team, complete with injuries, last second plays, arguments with the refs, and coaches on the sidelines losing their minds as they tossed a clipboard or two or three. The small wins were monumental. The losses were brutal but inconsequential at the end of the day.
Most of the players said they were just excited to play and have fun in a safe environment. “It’s about hard work. This helps learn to be tough and have fun,” said exceptionally skilled Nyla Blake-Soeden, an 11th grader who plays varsity basketball for The Dalton School in Manhattan.
Coach and filmmaker Noel Calloway was there with the Lady Prestige team from Harlem. His daughter, Kellen, plays on his team. She said that basketball is about having fun and is a nice way to connect with teammates before the season starts.
“The idea is to get as many kids to stay active and stay busy and not be in certain situations they are forced to be in when they don’t have anything to do is my goal,” said visiting coach Kareem Phillip-Davis about public safety. His nonprofit, Ballin Bronx Blazers, focuses on girls and boys basketball, and since he has 25 years experience as a chef, he also teaches culinary skills to youth.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
