{"id":211599,"date":"2024-06-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=211599"},"modified":"2024-06-27T19:51:29","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T19:51:29","slug":"great-place-youth-become-game-changers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=211599","title":{"rendered":"Great Place youth become game changers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>

\n 1 \/ 2<\/span>
\n
\n Show Caption +<\/span>
\n Hide Caption \u2013<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n
\n Marcus Smart, guard for the Memphis Grizzlies, huddles with the basketball clinic participants June 22, 2024, at Comanche Youth Center at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
\n (Photo Credit: Photo by Blair Dupre, Fort Cavazos Public Affairs)<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"A
\n <\/a>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n 2 \/ 2<\/span>
\n
\n Show Caption +<\/span>
\n Hide Caption \u2013<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n
\n Camryn Jackson, 14, makes a layup during the Marcus Smart Basketball Clinic June 22, 2024, at Audie Murphy Middle School at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
\n (Photo Credit: Photo by Blair Dupre, Fort Cavazos Public Affairs)<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

FORT CAVAZOS, Texas \u2014 <\/strong>More than 100 Fort Cavazos children participated in the Marcus Smart Basketball Clinic Saturday.<\/p>\n

During the clinic the children, ages 5 to 18, were taught some fundamentals of the game by volunteers of Smart\u2019s organization YounGameChangers, using a plethora of drills that focused on different elements of basketball including footwork, proper shooting form and how to be a team player. This is the second year the Marcus Smart Basketball Clinic has been hosted at Fort Cavazos.<\/p>\n

Shane Rogers, clinics director for YounGameChangers, said the purpose of the free clinic was not only to increase the basketball skills of participants but also to give them life skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cSports \u2026 talks about adversity,\u201d he said. \u201cIt talks about trying to work together as a team, learning new skills and how to adapt to those. For us \u2026 everybody here staff-wise has been influenced through basketball. Whether that\u2019s currently coaching, whether that\u2019s playing in high school or college for some of us \u2014 it\u2019s something that we feel we have a little bit of knowledge about and can instill those skills and life skills more than anything else.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for Marcus and his foundation to give back to the youth,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe title of it is \u2018YounGameChanger.\u2019 We are trying to impact the youth and teach them life skills through basketball. Marcus has been a great influence in the community. Being able to do it at an Army base is great, and we have some pride not only in the youth, but also in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vickie Jackson, Youth Sports and Fitness director, Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, said the event was incredibly important to the kids at Fort Cavazos.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kids don\u2019t get the opportunity like some of these big cities to get engaged in something like this with an NBA, NFL player or whatever the case may be,\u201d she said. \u201cFor somebody like (Smart) to come here \u2014 (the children) are ecstatic. I\u2019m thankful that he\u2019s coming here for our kids on the installation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other than learning the fundamentals of basketball and putting them into practice, the children were also given free T-shirts, and some were recognized for their merit during the clinic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so fun,\u201d 14-year-old clinic participant Camryn Jackson said of the clinic. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to learn and be engaged and learn more about basketball. (Smart) has made it to the top level of basketball that you can make it to and it\u2019s good to learn from somebody that\u2019s been there.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a brief demonstration by the children of what they learned during the clinic, Smart, guard for the Memphis Grizzlies, answered some of youths\u2019 burning questions before taking a group photo with them. He thanked the children for participating and thanked the parents for their service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout you guys, this wouldn\u2019t be possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For more information on upcoming Youth and Fitness events, visit\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Cavazos.CYS\/<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

For more information on Smart\u2019s YounGameChanger Foundation and its other programs, visit\u00a0https:\/\/marcussmart.org\/<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Marcus Smart, guard for the Memphis Grizzlies, huddles with the basketball clinic participants June 22, 2024, at Comanche Youth Center at Fort Cavazos, Texas. (Photo Credit: Photo by Blair Dupre, Fort Cavazos Public Affairs) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Camryn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211601,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=211599"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211604,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211599\/revisions\/211604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/211601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=211599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=211599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=211599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}