]]> http://streetolympics.org/2012/08/27/2011-learn-to-swim-schedule/feed/ 0 http://streetolympics.org/2009/07/17/street-olympics-kids-playing-for-championship/ http://streetolympics.org/2009/07/17/street-olympics-kids-playing-for-championship/#comments Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:22:31 +0000 admin http://streetolympics.org/wordpress/?p=150 Houston Chronicle – Former basketball legends like Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone and Clyde Drexler and current NBA players made Fonde Community Center their summer home for years, playing in highly competitive leagues.

But local youngsters ages 7 to 17 will take over the historic gym near downtown Houston on Thursday and Friday for the annual Harris County Street Olympics 3-on-3 Basketball Championships.

The hoops extravaganza is part of the Harris County Street Olympics, an Olympic-style summer games launched in the mid-1980s by Harris County Precinct One Commissioner El Franco Lee.

Brian Rego, project director for the Street Olympics and tournament director, said Houston-area youngsters are well aware of Fonde’s tradition, which will make for an electric atmosphere.

“They know of all the legends who have played at Fonde,” Rego said. “There are so many great players who come to Houston to practice in the summer. To play on the same court as those guys is pretty exciting.”

As far as the action on the court, Rego expects plenty of intensity — up to a limit.

“Most of the kids in Street Olympics aren’t summer league players,” Rego said. “They want to win, but having a good time is more important.”

In the end, only the top two teams in each age group will collect trophies.

Play will get under way on Thursday, with action in three divisions from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Division I is a co-ed league for 7- and 8-year-old girls and boys. Girls and boys will play in separate leagues in Division II (ages 9-10) and Division III (ages 11-12).

On Friday, winners will be crowned in Division IV (ages 13-14) and Division V (ages 15-17).

In all, more than 400 Harris County girls and boys on 125 teams will participate in the two-day, single-elimination tourney. They qualified by surviving four weeks of preliminary rounds at countywide neighborhood agencies for the right to compete in the Street Olympics 3-on-3 championship event.

“These kids played in leagues and earned the right to play in the finals,” Rego said.

Teams feature a maximum of four players, with only three on the court at the same time. Games take place on a half-court, with players earning one point for every field goal or free throw made. The winner is the first team to reach 13 points. In the case of a tie at the end of the 15-minute game, sudden death overtime is held, with the first team to score getting the win.

Rego described the tournament format as “make-it-or-break it.”

“You get one point for every basket or free throw,” Rego said. “They all count the same.”

Rego said the 3-on-3 tourney is one his favorite events at the Street Olympics and its companion Summer Games, which kicked off last month. More than 5,000 youngsters across Harris County are the middle of an eight-week “training” period in 12 competitive activities. The goal is advance to the Final Games on Aug. 7 at Reliant Park.

“Participation is strong this year,” Rego said. “Everything leads up to the Final Games. The next couple of weeks should be fun.”

From the starting whistle, pint-sized pros lay it all out on the court — both boys and girls.

It’s harder than it looks, and can be rough at times, but together they strategize their way to win.

“She’s good at shooting,” player Jocelyn Thompson said. “I’m good at defense and she’s good at blocking.”

Three hundred inner-city kids are playing in the Street Olympics three-on-three basketball championships, a decades-old summer program started by Precinct One Commissioner El Franco Lee.

“They’re rubbing shoulders with police officials in a positive way, other social professionals and chaperones from outside their community,” Lee said.

Brian Rego is the tournament director. He says the point of this game reaches beyond basketball “to teach teamwork [and] to teach getting along with people you hang with all the time. They don’t get the vacations like a lot of other children.”

And though games can get sticky, at least nine-year-old Raven August gets to play on a cool court.

There’s no quitting and no sad faces.

“I’m here to win and have fun,” player Daniel Fisher said.

After all, it’s what they learn here that will help them on the sidelines later in life.

Reaching Houston’s youth: More than 5,000 youth are expected to participate in this year’s free, eight-week Summer Games, which will take place at 95 venues overseen by more than 40 area agencies such as the Houston Parks & Recreation Department and local YMCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs.

For more information: Call 713-741-0851 or visit www.streetolympics.org.

Craig Thomas has enjoyed plenty of success as an athlete, starting at defensive end for his high school football team.

But the recent Lamar High graduate said some of his fondest memories occurred as a youngster during the annual Harris County Street Olympics.

“I always had a great time,” said the 17-year-old Thomas, a Street Olympian from age 6 until his early teens. “I loved hanging out with my peers. It made the summers go by fast.”

Thomas said he participated in Street Olympics events such as the 3-on-3 basketball tournament as well as Summer Games favorites like the free throw and dribbling competitions, jacks and track and field.

Thomas now will get an opportunity to give back, serving as an events coach. It’s a role he wholeheartedly embraces.

“Now it’s my turn to be a big kid,” Thomas said. “I want to be a role model and show them how much fun the Street Olympics can be.”

The 23rd annual Harris County Street Olympics kick off on Friday morning with the lighting of the Olympic flame at Mickey Leland Memorial Park, 3701 Cavalcade Street. Eighty boys and girls from the Lincoln Park Summer Program and Finnigan YET Center will practice kickball, jump rope and basketball dribbling skills prior to the opening ceremonies, which officially start at 10:35 a.m.

Also, the Discovery Camp station will show off some the creatures kids will get to know this summer as part of the free eight-week program open to Harris County youth.

Brian Rego, who works in the office of Precinct One Commissioner El Franco Lee and has served as the Summer Games’ program director since its inception, said the multi-sport competition, open to boys and girls ages 6 to 15, has become a summer tradition.

“It’s all about getting the kids involved in recreational activities and teaching them skills in a fun, safe environment,” Rego said. “The Summer Games are designed for any boy or girl. They don’t have to be athletes.”

Rego said that’s part of the appeal. The Street Olympics and Summer Games are loosely modeled after the Summer Olympics. However, they include non-traditional sports such as jacks, hopscotch, kickball, free throw shooting and the 50-yard dash.

“Most of them are games that young people typically play on the street,” Rego said.

More than 5,000 youngsters will participate in a total of 11 events at sites across Harris County throughout the summer. Between now and July 24, youngsters will be taught skills at venues overseen by the various sponsoring agencies. Summer Games coaches eventually will choose qualifiers for the Final Games and Bright Futures Fair to be held Aug. 7 at Reliant Center.

Rego said Final Games qualifiers will be limited to only one morning and afternoon event.

“We want to keep a level playing field and ensure that as many kids as possible have the opportunity to make it to the Final Games,” Rego said.

Rego said a 3-on-3 basketball tournament also is planned July 9-10 at the Fonde Recreation Center.

“We have a very busy summer planned,” Rego said.

Rego added that the Street Olympics, founded in 1987 by Lee, is just one of the many programs available to youngsters.

Others include the Harris County Aquatics Program, a year-round swim program; the Northeast Adolescent Program, a collaborative effort between the Houston Independent School District, Baylor College of Medicine, Harris County Hospital District, Harris County Precinct One and the March of Dimes that addresses the problems of teen pregnancy and infant mortality; and the Discovery Camp, a naturalist program that teaches youth about living creatures and their roles in preserving the environment.

The community-based, year-round Street Olympics program is overseen by the non-profit Harris County Street Olympics Inc., with an 11-member board of directors and a 10-member advisory board.

For more information on the Street Olympics, call 713-741-0851 or visit www.streetolympics.org.