I had a real good time Saturday at Philly’s Hawthorne Cultural Center Playground with Bounce CEO Jesse “ShowForm” Washington and Sr. Editor Liz “Invisible Woman” Washington. They organized a well-needed clinic for 25 neighborhood kids. One of the youths recently experienced a senseless loss to his family. His cousin, while on a bike, was shot dead by a man for not moving out of the way of his car fast enough.
All attendees were treated to some eats and free gear afterwards. Big ups to Jordan Brand, and Chris Rucker and Dexter Gordon of Rucker Apparel. Bounce represented strong.
Harlem’s own Gerald Colds (St. Raymond’s HS, All-City CHSAA, Jordan Game selectee, and Drexel U. incoming frosh) came through and we shot him doing his favorite ball “wildstyle” move for our photo shoot.
Colds and Couch with Philly-Wild Style tag in background @ Hawthorne Playground
As for “Show Form” Washington, his release point on his jumper was surprisingly high with strong mechanics. It was enough to merit consideration in our “How We Do” section in our next edition. J never got the op to play HS or College but the Playground gives light to all. One of Chris Rucker’s fam came through and gave us the run down on what was going down on the Philly playgrounds. They had a Philly vs B-more all-star run we tried to get to but our event lasted too late. Much Love to Philly and all their playgrounds.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Jesse Washington says:
Word, this was one of the best events I’ve been a part of in a long time. Big shout to 7th-graders Demetrius and Daquan, 8th-grader Shaq, and young Jermaine, who were some of the best ballers out there that day. Shaq is gonna be a beast. There was a young lady in effect as well whose name I dont recall who was holding it DOWN! And of course lil’ Larry, age 5, who insisted on getting into the game and proceeded to get after it when he got on the court. Special thanks to the Philadelphia Baha’i community for hosting the entire thing, and to Jordan Brand and Rucker for lighting up the hood with free gifts. South Philly will be rocking Jordan head and wrist bands and Rucker fitteds for the rest of the summer!
We had planned this clinic for weeks and then, just by coincidence, neighborhood resident Tykeem Law fell victim to senseless violence a few days before the event. Tykeem’s death was a major story all over Philly, and highlighted the need for positive and constructive activities for youth period, not just in a place where a kid happened to get killed.
(PS: Sean, my brother, I averaged 20 points, 7 boards and 5 assists my senior year in HS.)
July 24th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Bobbito says:
I have a tremendous amount of love for philly, and am super glad to know that we had a presence out there recently. hopefully it becomes a consistent. you guys should have put up a post before the event so everyone could’ve been alerted. i know a couple heads out there that would’ve loved to have brought their kids down.
bless
July 25th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Sean Couch says:
J:
Yo, 20, 7 are serious numbers. That 5 assists number though….Your modesty about your career as a player caused me to forget. Our crew
has ball in our blood.