Brooklyn Basketball reaches thousands of students through DOE school clinics | amNewYork

Brooklyn Basketball works to increase access to organized youth basketball coaching across Brooklyn. The program has grown from a community initiative into a large outreach effort reaching more than 200 schools and tens of thousands of students each year through partnerships with the New York City Department of Education. Head coach Michael Collins leads a coaching staff that has expanded to more than 20 coaches and several full-time program leaders. Coaches run clinics in schools and at a training center near Barclays Center. Programming operates five days a week, with coaches traveling into schools and adapting drills to available spaces such as auditoriums, cafeterias, and gyms without baskets. The mission focuses on meeting kids where they are and making sessions fun for beginners.

"What began as a small community initiative has evolved into one of Brooklyn's largest youth basketball outreach programs, now reaching more than 200 schools and tens of thousands of students each year through partnerships with the New York City Department of Education."

"Since joining Brooklyn Basketball last September, Collins has overseen a rapidly expanding coaching staff that now includes more than 20 coaches and several full-time program leaders who run clinics throughout Brooklyn schools and at the organization's training center across from Barclays Center."

"The goal is always meeting the kids where they're at, he said. That means being able to interact with a kid in seventh grade who's never played the game and maybe not even that interested in the game. We want to make that experience that hour, that two hours very fun for them."

"Brooklyn Basketball's school programming now operates five days a week, reaching nearly every corner of the borough. Coaches travel directly into schools, often adapting to whatever space is available auditoriums, cafeterias or gyms without baskets."

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