Local tournament combines basketball and street-smarts

Combining outdoor basketball with a chance to educate local youth about the dangers of drugs and crime, New Haven's first annual "Streetball" tournament culminated last weekend in success for the city and its more than 60 young participants. In addition to a $1,500 cash prize, the teens competing in what the city hopes will become an annual event received valuable drug awareness and education counseling. "All summer long we pushed the idea of job training, getting a high school diploma or a GED, going to college," Curtis Suggs, the event organizer and President and Chief Executive Officer of Know-gimmicks, said. "Basketball was the tool."

SARAH ENGLAND/YH

Suggs conceived the idea as an opportunity for area youth to both exercise their basketball skills and learn more about the educational options at their disposal. Know-gimmicks, a city start-up company, and West Rock Development Corporation combined forces to create the tournament, which ended last Sunday at Ernest McClain Park. Prior to last Sunday's tipoff, eight teams from local neighborhoods had been eliminated over the course of the summer. The lone survivors, teams from West Rock and Fair Haven, competed for the cash prize in front of an appreciative crowd of more than 300 locals. The program gave 64 young adults of 17 years and older the chance to sharpen their basketball skills and to expand upon their educational foundation.

Suggs organized the tournament as an MBA student at Southern Connecticut State University. Tournament officials hope that this program will become more than just the beginning of a basketball league. Officials have already received inquiries from participants regarding job training programs and classes. Curtis Uqoah-Jennings, executive director of the West Rock Development Corporation, emphasized that Suggs and the tournament had succeeded even beyond their wildest hopes. "We'll support creative program that encourages young people to take advantage of opportunities," he told the New Haven Register. "And this program reached out to people in all six of the city's Em-powerment Neighborhoods."

In attendance at the final game were representatives from New Haven's Adult Education Program, the Regional Developmental Work Force, the State Department of Labor, and officials from Gateway Community Technical College who provided information on several courses and services.  Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. was present for the post-game festivities.

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