On the Ball Director Dennis Jackson (shown center,
pointing) instructs a previous year's participants in the finer
points of basketball. The P.L.A.Y. program balances academics and
athletics to help inner-city students of color turn their sports
prowess into a college degree. This year's P.L.A.Y. program, which
begins later this week, will include young women for the first
time.
Lots of young people dream of taking their basketball skills straight to the National Basketball Association or the Women's National Basketball Association. But 99.5 percent of them won't see that dream come true. The P.L.A.Y. Academy, which comes to MHC July 4 - 18, offers inner-city youths of color the academic, athletic, and personal skills needed to get a college degree. P.L.A.Y. stands for Planned Learning Achievement for Youth.
Program founder and director Dennis S. Jackson explains, "For minority student-athletes, basketball scholarships can be a ticket to a better future--but only if they have fulfilled the necessary academic requirements." P.L.A.Y.'s motto--"To play is not enough"--captures the program's academic emphasis.
Although basketball talent won't lead to a pro contract for most young people, Jackson says it can lead to a college degree and thus to another successful career. The P.L.A.Y. program consists of the fifteen-day summer session and a year-round follow-up that tracks academic progress and life-skills development until each participant receives his or her college degree. More than 90 percent of P.L.A.Y. alumni have gone on to college or other postsecondary education, according to Jackson.
An all-male academy since its founding in 1989, P.L.A.Y. is going coed this year. Some two dozen young women are expected to attend, along with about fifty young men. The women's program is believed to be the only one of its kind in the country.
Basketball skills are taught in a coed setting, but with each person competing against others of the same gender. Academics are taught in all-female or all-male groups. Some workshops are single-sex, such as the "self-respect and love empowerment" and "beyond sexual harassment" seminars for young women. Some "life skills" classes, such as job-interview techniques, are taught in coed groups.
All P.L.A.Y. participants (and the general public) can attend talks by sports notables throughout July. These include Golden State Warriors Vice President Al Attles, Toronto Raptors Head Basketball Coach Butch Carter; Kevin Freeman, a P.L.A.Y. graduate and member of the national men's basketball championship UConn Huskies team; and Gail Marquis, a member of the U.S. women's basketball team that won a silver medal at the 1997 Montreal Olympics. [Note: The CSJ calendar will list these public events.]
With its intensive academic and athletic training, P.L.A.Y. aims to convince participants that their future holds more than basketball--but that basketball is where that future can begin.
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