We aim to create spaces to celebrate our kids and facilitate a positive experience with creativity, which is made possible with the Dallas Museum of Art as an enrichment partner. DMA art experts came in to host a 3-week pop-up with hands-on art education and experience. They also guided the kids on a personal tour of the DMA and helped make a showcase at Bonton Farms where families, friends, and the community could view their artwork.
We aim to create spaces to celebrate our kids and facilitate a positive experience with creativity, which is made possible with the Dallas Museum of Art as an enrichment partner. DMA art experts came in to host a 3-week pop-up with hands-on art education and experience. They also guided the kids on a personal tour of the DMA and helped make a showcase at Bonton Farms where families, friends, and the community could view their artwork.
Over the last few months, nine teams of boys from South Dallas practiced and competed in our Crossover Basketball League in partnership with Mercy Street. Teams were led by BridgeBuilders, Frazier Revitalization, Mercy Street, Park South YMCA, and Uplift Pinnacle Preparatory, and included boys ages 9-13 in 11U and 13U divisions.
These organizations came together in an exhibition of mutual values of integrity, leadership, and competition. Our Associate Director of Student Services, Tommy Ned, shared his thoughts with me on the league:
“Kids want to be part of something bigger. To be on a team is an extension of pride in your neighborhood.”
Most kids around here love basketball, so meeting them at their interest and infusing their basketball training with Godly values creates leadership that goes beyond basketball.
The aim of Crossover Athletics is to be part of a full-circle effect. Coach Tommy put it this way, “If you want to love someone, do something for their kids. The work we do shows people that we care for their whole home because we build relationships with families.”
This league gives kids an avenue to be known and heard and allow community leaders and volunteers to pour into their lives and be a support to them and their family. Some of these kids haven’t even seen their own potential, and this league gives them a way to explore that.
Coach Tommy isn’t stopping here, either: “Next, we want more teams and more kids! Consistency is key to the plan. We can’t forget the girls, either. They have talents and skills that we want to shepherd for leadership. These girls need to know how important they are, and that they have a place.”
We’re creating more touchpoints in the kids’ lives while trying to maximize any moments we already have with them. Coach Tommy’s vision for student services reflects this, “Just like God’s mercies are new every day, we strive to give kids that positive interaction every time we see them. If I had only five minutes to communicate with a kid, I would make sure to ask how they’re really doing and tell them we can’t wait to see them again.”
At the end of the Championship games, each team received medals for their hard work, and the winners had their team names emblazoned on a trophy that now sits in our Recreation Center. Yet even the teams that lost were taught that in losing, we learn perseverance. More than that, they don’t lose alone but as a team. They are victorious together and they face defeat together.
Ultimately, sports at BridgeBuilders can do something great- it can bring helpful attention that builds energy this neighborhood benefits from. Athleticism can provide ways forward for kids and people can realize the value of South Dallas in its wealth of culture and community. And this league can inspire us to be better leaders to help these kids achieve their highest potential.
If you would like to volunteer by serving as a coach or team sponsor in our Summer season, please email Coach Tommy and we will be sure to provide you all the necessary information.
