YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The fifth season of the Respect Summer Basketball League tips off June 8, but it’s about more than scoring points.
“The thing I like more than anything about [the league] is not the sports,” Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said at a news conference Monday morning. “It’s the interaction, it’s the engagement, involvement with kids – what they can get out of it. But I think also, how we can connect with them – build those relationships.”
The league is open to 18- 24-year-olds. The league is part of the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Foundation and the new season was announced in partnership with the city, the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence, the YMCA and the Youngstown Police Department.
William “Shimmie” Miller started the league. He was shot and killed last June.
“The Respect Basketball League would not be what it is if it wasn’t for him,” Brown said. “We think about him all the time.”
D’Aundray Brown, Central YMCA executive director, also called Miller a visionary. Miller also dreamed of expanding the Respect Foundation to other communities.
“And just a couple months ago, me and Mr. [William “guy”] Burney, we got to speak at YUSA,” he said. This is our national organization for the YMCA. So we got to meet in Columbus and present on the Respect Basketball League and it was a milestone.”
Other communities are interested in starting similar programs, he said.
Burney said the program includes mentoring and relationship building. Coaches and mentors learn about the young people involved and help them find the resources they need including mental health services and employment. Participation in hour-long training which focuses on issues and concerns facing the young people is required for them to play basketball, Burney said.
“One thing we have to understand as a community: we’re either going to transform or transfer,” he said. “If we don’t transform, if we don’t change the way we’re doing, if we’re not changing how we behave and act, we’re going to transfer the things that we don’t want to the next generation.”
Valerie Burney, community engagement and outreach coordinator for the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board, said she wants to make sure Respect participants get the services they may need.
“If they need resources, if they need help, we can refer them to different agencies to get the help that they need,” she said.
Kelan Bilal is president of the Respect Foundation and owner of Excalibur Barber. He said he’s proud to carry on Miller’s legacy “and his vision of coaching the community for greatness.”
D’Aundray Brown said the league would like to have 10 to 12 teams with 12 players each. Teams play Sundays and each coach is responsible for organizing his or her team’s practices.
YMCA memberships will be available for players who
Malik Mostella, Youngstown Police community liaison, said the program focuses on an age group that often believes its forgotten and pushed aside.
They may think they should have things figured out by the time they’re in their 20s, he said.
“But [they] may not have had anybody to help them steer that vehicle,” Mostella said. “So we’re here to help them steer that vehicle and show them that this opportunity is here because if you don’t have a bank account, we’ll show you how to set one up. If you don’t know how to fill out a job obligation, we’ll show you how to set that up. If you don’t know how to interview, we’ll sit down and teach you how to interview.”
Cutline: Malik Mostella, Kelan Bilal, Martia Phifer, William “guy” Burney, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, D’Aundray Brown, Valerie Burney and Mike Brown.