Maya McFadden Photo
Players at season finale of Guns Down, Books Up Unity Basketball League.
For the first time in their lives, Tyran Mason, Maasa Bethea, D’aire Barnett, Davon Hargrove, Allen Hennah, and Travis James didn’t have to worry about unexpected shootings happening around them while they played on a basketball court.
The six New Haven natives joined with other neighborhood kids to play in the inaugural seasons of a Guns Down, Books Up Unity Basketball League this summer. It provided them with safe place to play basketball and get active with friends every Sunday morning.
At the start of the summer, Raymond Wallace, executive director of the nonprofit that sponsors the league, was approached by kids in the neighborhood asking for something to do. “They came up with the idea and we helped them get what they needed to have fun,” he said.
Sunday concluded the summer league, with a final three games and cookout for the players and their families.
The players were also given book bags, school supplies, books, button up shirts, and ties for the school year.
Wallace began hosting the Guns Down, Books Up Unity Basketball League at Peat Meadow Park in the Annex in June. He plans to make it an annual summer league and grow it in the future.
This summer Wallace and his team of volunteers brought 35 youth on board the league.
Two five-on-five teams competed Sunday. The players’ ages ranged from 6 years old to 22. Wallace allowed youth of all ages to join who are interested in the game of basketball.
While planes flew overhead, tunes rang from the DJ booth, and players’ families cheered them on from the sidelines, as the league played three games Sunday with white against green. The Sunday clouds held off with only a brief light drizzle at the start of the afternoon, then cleared once the games began.
In between each game, players lathered their hands in hand sanitizer and took short water breaks.
During the games, the boys called out to each other: “Watch your back!” “I’m open.” “Get the rebound. Go up.”
Maasa Bethea, Davon Hargrove, and Tyran Mason.
Wallace spotted Tyran Mason, 16, at a store one day earlier this summer. “You’re a ballplayer, aren’t you?” he asked. He invited Tyran and his friends to join the league.
Mason, who attends Wilbur Cross, enlisted his friends Maasa Bethea, 16, who goes to Hillhouse, D’aire Barnett, 15 ‚who goes to Co-op, Davon Hargrove, 16, who attends Riverside, Allen Hennah, 22, and Travis James, 15, who goes to Co-op High.
The friend group lives in the Hill. They first met at the basketball court by Roberto Clemente Elementary School, where they all usually play. “It’s quiet, here so we don’t have to worry about anything dangerous,” Mason said of the Peat Meadow Courts
“Usually there’s fights and arguments, and shootings all the time,” Barnett said about Roberto.
Travis James and Allen Hennah.
“This gets us out the streets where we aren’t meant to be. There’s no name on bullets,” James said. “Being here gets us away from things we’re not supposed to be apart of, like scheduled drive-bys, which happen all the time at Roberto.”
Hennah, who has two kids and a third on the way, said he grew up with brothers who sold drugs. He hopes to go down a different path from his brother’s and play professional basketball, he said. “I dance, sing, and play sports, so I don’t fall into that life.”
Hargrove switched from playing football to basketball after his uncle passed away. “He loved basketball, and when he passed. I felt like I owed it to him,” he said.
All of the group but James agreed that they plan to play basketball in college, then seek to play in the NBA or overseas. James plays basketball to stay fit, but is more interested in football.
James said playing basketball with his friends helps take his mind off negative thoughts. He added that his parents lost numerous loved ones to Covid-19. Going to the court everyday gave him the chance to let them grieve alone.
Before the pandemic, James, who also plays football, said he was underweight. Doing daily workouts with the league and having the time to create healthy habits this summer helped him get to the right weight for the fall.
The group added that the city needs more affordable or free youth programs that are run by volunteers or passionate staff. “Too many programs are run by people who don’t care and it ruins the experience,” said Hennah.
“This league spreads love and positivity. We get to meet others and make connections with local people like the DJ, who I talked to and gave my number because I write music,” Hennah said.
During the off season for the league, Wallace plans to recruit sponsors to support more children in the league with team shirts and other resources.
The league is meant to serve as fitness training for athletes while out of school. Wallace has also brought some players to the Powerhouse Gym to train with him this summer. Throughout the summer Wallace also offered the players community service hours with neighborhood clean-ups and food distribution to the homeless with Guns Down, Books Up.
Wallace: Did everyone sanitize?
After the green team won two games back to back Sunday, Wallace called the group in for a circle to thank the players and volunteers for their participation in the league throughout the summer. He passed around a notebook for players to add their phone numbers to remain in contact during the school year.
The group shared in the circle about their “special talents,” which ranged from ballet and backflips to reading and speaking Portuguese. They read a pledge of nonviolence together.
College basketball star Robert McKiver coached his first-grader Robert “Little Fluff” McKiver Jr. from the sidelines Sunday. McKiver founded the AAU training program Elm City Elite and lives in the neighborhood. He learned about the league while practicing at Peat Meadow Park with his son one day and running into Wallace. Wallace invited McKiver’s son to the league to learn from the older players.
For the final and third game of the league’s season, the green team took the win, 21 – 20.
Davon Hargrove’s mother, Angela Bell, said she plans to come to Peat Meadow Park more often because it is quiet and out the way, she said. She picked up some notebooks and books for her other five kids, who joined her and her husband at the Sunday gathering.
Davon Hargrove and mom Angela Bell.
“It’s hard to find good programs run by people that love the kids and will do so much for them. They get more than basketball here,” Bell said.
The previous Monday, Bell said, she heard that there was a shooting near Roberto, where her son and his friends were playing. She immediately called them home and let them hang out at her house.
“It’s not fair that they can’t just be outside without worrying,” she said. “Stuff like that happens too much.”
Guns Down, Books Up Unity Basketball League players and volunteers.
Organized sports, often brutal ones like rugby, have long worked to burn off excess adolescent energy and channel competitive spirits. Unfortunately, our schools have been de-emphasizing athletics and organizations like the YMCA/YWCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, Q-House, and others have fallen out of fashion.