By: Liam Blutman
The Young3 is out here in Kansas City this week. Kansas City, Missouri to be exact and not Kansas City, Kansas which is only 15 minutes away. We can happily let you know that we saw about 160 young boys and girls show up to the Thornberry Boys and Girls Club this morning and that is simply a fantastic showing from the future stars of this world! Jerome Williams had this to say… “Being in Kansas City is great because this is the first city to have two gyms which allowed us to expand 150+ camp goers.” This strong showing of Kansas City young had the dog pound barking at levels we’ve never heard!
Instructing the youth this week were: Jerome Williams, Johnnie Williams, Josh Williams, Charles “Choo” Smith, Eric “Broadway” Jones, Erin Thorn, Desmon Farmer, James “Hollywood” Robinson, Bryan Burrell, Lamar Lundy, La’Tasha Washington, and yours truly, Liam Blutman. First off, on behalf of each and every staff member, we’d like to thank y’all for an excellent camp today. It’s one we won’t forget and we truly appreciate all of you for coming out. These incredible camp experiences do not happen without y’all! During the camp, two of our coaches went head to head in a 4-point shootout with Desmon going up against Erin. You might recall that Erin won the contest last week and today was no different, she was victorious despite having the flu! Michael Jordan has got nothing on Erin’s performance. We also can’t forget about the kids 4-point shootout which was fun as always and a big shoutout to those that participated! I’d also like to thank the local TV stations of Fox and NBC for grabbing some footage from our camp as they plan to give Young3 some air time on TV soon!
This week we were also able to bring back our Life Skills portion of the camp. This is where Choo educates teenagers and prepares them for the coming years of their lives. He’ll prepare these young men and women with potential situations they might run into. Choo will help them get ready for an interview down the road, advising them to stay out of trouble, and telling his life story and how he made it out of Baltimore. There’s a multitude of lessons the youth can learn from Choo during life skills!
The 3 on 3 tournaments were super fun to watch as per usual! There were some ballers in KC and we were glad they showed off their talents at a Young3 camp. Three more Young3 champions were crowned and congrats to all who won. Be proud of your accomplishment and wear that medal with pride! I had the opportunity to interview, Young3 9u champion coach, Montae Roe. When I asked Mr. Roe his thoughts on the Young3 camp he praised the entire experience and emphasized how important this was for the kids. It’s not often that young boys and girls get to learn from some of the best teachers in the world and we hope this experience taught you a lot and that y’all cherish it for years to come! I also asked Coach Roe what the kids biggest takeaway from today should be and he said… “Hard work and teamwork. Simple as that.” While simple, it’s super important to carry these traits wherever you go and whatever you do as they’ll make you a better basketball player and person and you can believe that.
And now… for the Kansas City, Missouri Young3 All-Team Members…
(Follow them on Instagram!)
Trey Taylor (@Lab.Trey)
Quazell Pickes (@NonStopQPKing)
Anthony Brown (@2ezant)
Michael Smith Jr. (@MJ_Hooper10)
Ja’Ron Bradley
Each member of the team listed the area of basketball they want to improve on most as well as share their favorite moment from today. A few kids said they need to work on their defense… we all know how important that facet of the game is! Michael told us that it was really fun to be coached by former NBA players, he was surprised by a lot of stuff that went down at the camp today, and he jus thoroughly enjoyed the Young3 experience. Hopefully we can keep putting smiles on kids faces and making their days incredible.
Thank y’all so much for reading this article, coming out to the Young3 event and supporting the youth that partakes in these camps. We really appreciate all of you. Next week we are headed for Salt Lake City, Utah!
