Teen League Tackles 2 Pandemics At Once

In the memory of a teen whose life was cut short by gunfire, organizers gathered 70 teens with the aim of making basketball shots on the court — and receiving Covid-19 vaccine shots in their arms.

That organizing effort took place late Tuesday afternoon in the Wexler Grant gymnasium.

It takes on two pandemics at once: Street violence (and kids have too little productive to do). And Covid.

The 70 New Haven teenagers tied their sneakers and shot hoops as they tried out for the Tyrick B Keyes New Haven Basketball League. The league is named in honor of Tyrick, who was shot and killed in 2017 at the age of 14.

This year another crew showed up: representatives from Cornell Scott Hill Health Center. They were on hand, and plan to return, to encourage the kids to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and dispel any myths about the shots. It’s a tall order: Almost all the teens present Tuesday revealed they have not yet taken a Covid shot. The effort is part of a broader ​“ground game” begun in New Haven to reach unvaccinated people one by one through pop-up clinics and community visits as the Delta variant of the coronavirus has caused an upturn in the pandemic.

Mostly, though, Tuesday was about basketball. The teens lined up for coaches to observe their performances in rounds of five-on-five before teams were picked Tuesday night. This year, every kid will get picked for a team. 

Tuesday was the second day of try-outs for the league. Now practice starts four days a week for the next three weeks.

This is the summer league’s seventh year of giving New Haven youth ​“something to do.” The anti-violence group Ice The Beef organized it.

The ten teams in the league will play games against each other every night. Coaches from across New Haven have volunteered to work with the teams. The practices will culminate in a large bracket tournament at the end of the three weeks.

“This is the movement to get the kids off the street, to keep the kids from getting in trouble, to keep the kids from giving a negative name to teenagers. This is the movement to bring basketball back to New Haven, to the inner city kids, to the kids that are told not a lot, told that they aren’t going to make it,” said Coach Jason Newton.

He said the program helps to teach youth how to be coached and gives them tangible goals.

Newton added that the program will welcome kids who join late: ​“The goal is not to turn a kid away”

Coach Zacarri Graham participated in a New Haven summer basketball league when he was growing up. ​“Whenever people hear about New Haven they hear about violence. We want to cut down on the violence,” Graham said. ​“If we can get these kids to come together and play basketball and give them something to do, they’re not in the streets off getting killed or doing anything crazy.

“We’re keeping them safe and everything, teaching them not only the basics of basketball but the basics of life.”

Ice The Beef President Chaz Carmon said there are still openings for at least 20 or 30 more kids to join this summer.

“There are so many shootings going on and so much violence going on, you gotta get kids something to do,” said Carmon.

Carmon said initially the organizers were nervous about running the program this summer with Covid-19 still spreaded, but ultimately they decided to go ahead. ​“We saw all the shootings happening and said you know what, that’s it. We have to save these kids in the street and as long as we do it the right way we should be good.”

Marquise Avery, who volunteers as a coach and organizer for the league. has been involved with the program since it started.

He said he thinks the league is needed ​“to help keep these kids off the streets and keep them in tune with what they love doing. What they love doing, it’s about them.”

Avery’s 16-year-old son Stephone attended try-outs Tuesday. ​“That’s another blessing, too ​‚to bring your own family in on it,” Avery said

Ninth grader Tylon Vaughn waited in the bleachers during try-outs for his assigned group to scrimmage.

Vaughn plays basketball at Wilbur Cross and has played basketball for four years.

Emmanuel Brown is a sophomore at Amistad High, where he plays basketball. He has played for eight years and participated in the Tyrick B Keyes New Haven Basketball League last year.

Brown said his favorite part of the program is ​“meeting people and having fun.” Before joining the league, he said, he has mostly been hanging out with friends this summer.

“I’ve seen kids that were here get shot. I’ve seen everything really. So it’s really to get kids off the street” said Jayquan Bromell. Bromell has been part of the league for five years as a participant and now as a coach.

“I treat them like they’re my little brothers, I never treat them like a dictator or a coach.”

Bromell said the kids have been more excited than usual to join the league this year since the Covid-19 pandemic: ​“It’s been rough out here in the past couple years during this pandemic and so to get this league going out here again is going to be great.”

For the program this summer, masks are required. Just outside the gym, Cornell Scott Hill Health Center set up Covid-19 vaccination and testing. The crew plans to return every Tuesday from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.

“We’re trying to target events that have been popular with youth and give them a safe place to ask questions and get educated on why it’s so important to get the Covid-19 vaccine or testing,” said Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Sara Keiling.

Keiling said they’re primarily set up at that time for the youth league but will take walk-ups from anyone. ​“We’re just trying to get these conversations going and just ask kids what’s holding them back if they haven’t.” she said.

Nurse Practitioner Jonathan Johnson spoke to the entire group about the Covid-19 vaccine as they sat on the bleachers. ​“My goal is to get as many of these young brothers vaccinated as I possibly can because we need to do everything that we can to protect ourselves,” he said. ​“Sports are coming back around, schools are opening back up in person so they need to utilize every tool they have at their disposal to stay safe.”

Johnson asked everyone in the group who was vaccinated to raise their hands. Roughly 10 out of 70 kids put their hands up. 

He said he was expecting about half the kids would have been vaccinated. He was surprised by how few of them said they had been vaccinated.

Johnson then asked the kids about what myths they hear about the vaccine. Responses ranged from seizure symptoms to magnets and tracking devices being injected into their arms.

Over the next few weeks, Johnson said, he plans to ​“systematically break down some of those myths. I’m going to keep showing up and talk to some of the guys individually.”

He also asked kids who have been vaccinated to share their experiences with those who are more hesitant or afraid.