100 BROOKLYN NEWS WWW.BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
Borough President Adams is a big believer in the
power of sports for Brooklyn’s youth.
“Some of the most impactful experiences on my
life and the lives of countless Brooklynites were from
involvement in youth sports, learning the values of
teamwork and discipline that can only come from
active play on the field,” said Borough President
Adams. “I still exercise because I had an introduction
to it at a young age. Additionally, if we want to break
down violent street gangs, we need to build up sports
teams. A child with a football in his hand won’t have
a gun in his hand, and a child wearing a uniform on
the basketball court can wear a black robe on the
Supreme Court.”
Under his administration at Brooklyn Borough Hall,
Borough President Adams has engaged in several
initiatives to strengthen youth sports participation as
well as assist teams and leagues address their issues
of limited resources. Starting last year, he organized
forums with coaches and commissioners from
across the borough in a number of sports disciplines,
hearing first-hand about their challenges with field
and court conditions, funding, and public school
facilities. As a result of these meetings, he launched
a public campaign in June for the New York City
Department of Education to open up public schools
to all groups seeking to use the space for positive
youth and community development outside of school
hours. He noted that New York City has 1,454 public
school buildings, with 441 in the borough of Brooklyn
alone, and that the structures are left vacant or are
unreachable during non-school hours due to schools
charging hundreds of dollars an hour to utilize space.
“School buildings and fields are an extension of
community resources, and those resources must be
accessible to the critical youth sports programs in our
community,” said Borough President Adams. “If we
care about the health and wellness of our children,
if we care about their holistic growth, and if we care
about them making good choices rather than falling
into dangerous street activity, then we will open the
doors to our gymnasiums and fields. Let them play!”
Building on this call, Borough President Adams led
hundreds of young athletes in their sports gear and
team uniforms, along with their parents and coaches,
in a march across the Brooklyn Bridge on October
20th as he called for greater city access to safe spaces
for play. Representatives of the dozens of local teams
participating in the effort, comprising over 20 different
athletic disciplines, gathered at a rally prior to the
step-off, where they spoke about the positive impact
that youth sports has had on addressing childhood
obesity, gang violence and social development issues.
Following the walk, participants gathered at a youth
sports expo at Brooklyn Borough Hall, which offered
resources for families and giveaways for local athletic
events.
Borough President Adams has organized a number
of other events around the borough to get young
people up and moving. On June 4th, he held his second
annual celebration of Brooklyn Day, a holiday dating
back 115 years that is now celebrated citywide as
Chancellor’s Day with the closure of all New York City
public schools, with a day of free outdoor recreation in
Canarsie Park; some of the many activities included
baseball instruction, basketball drills, gymnastics
instruction and obstacle courses. On September 28th,
Borough President Adams invited students from P.S.
196 Ten Eyck in East Williamsburg to work out with
him as part of his second annual celebration of
National Yoga Month, a daylong event that featured
classes and demonstrations of yoga and related
holistic living disciplines, such as meditation and tai
chi.
Among its other positive attributes, youth sports
has the power to empower student athletes and
their peers off the example of their achievements
and successes in competition. To harness this power,
Borough President Adams held his inaugural Night
Honoring Brooklyn Champions back on February
26th, an evening celebrating 12 of the borough’s
recent athletic and scholastic championship teams.
Middle school, high school and college squads
from Bay Ridge, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bensonhurst,
Brooklyn Heights, Coney Island, Crown Heights,
East Flatbush, Homecrest, Midwood and Ocean Hill
all received trophies and words of praise during the
ceremony.
“From the gridiron to the chessboard, there’s
no beating our Brooklyn champions!” said Borough
President Adams. “Students, coaches and parents
have all contributed to the winning tradition of our
borough, enriching the minds, bodies and spirits of
our youth in the process. They remind Brooklyn’s
young people that, with hard work and dedication,
anything and everything is possible.”
A SPORTING CHANCE
For Brooklyn’s Youth
Calling for greater city access to safe spaces for play, Borough President Adams led hundreds of young
athletes in their sports gear and team uniforms, along with their parents and coaches, in a march across
the Brooklyn Bridge.
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