X’s and O’s by Kenny Holdsman – April

On Monday morning’s at 10:00 am, the PYB staff team gathers for our weekly meeting.  We review a variety of “work flow” related to programming, special events, board committees, fundraising, and community partnerships.  The “meat” of the conversation is sandwiched with a quick warm-up and then a closing reflection about an area of continuous, organizational improvement.

On March 20, our Program Director Eric Worley, who is also the father of two basketball playing daughters, commented in the warm-up about the disparity of media coverage between the NCAA men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments.  He pointed out that while the men’s bracket may receive 30 minutes of news coverage, the women’s bracket may be lucky to get 30 seconds of air time.  Our Fund Development Coordinator Diana Venezia and our Community Mobilization Coordinator MaryKate O‘Brien, both former college basketball players, were abundantly aware of Eric’s observations.  

This warm-up commentary spontaneously provided the perfect segue for the program section of our meeting agenda and the topic of our upcoming Girls Empowerment Program scheduled for May 13th and the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, PA.  Philadelphia Youth Basketball in partnership with Philly Triple Threat will host a full-day of action for middle and high school aged young women, the agenda will include:

• Basketball skill building and game play
• A Mindfulness workshop
• A healthy meal with nutrition lesson
• Dynamic facilitated discussions centered around the identity of female student-athletes.

The entire day will be delivered by a 100% female staff of PYB employees, volunteers, advocates, and board members.  These women are players, coaches, youth development practitioners, mentors, and role models dedicated to serving young women and passionate about PYB’s missions of authentic, diverse, and distributive leadership.

For information about PYB’s Girls Empowerment Program click here.