Sports & Recreation Spotlight: Purpose, Poise, Passion and… Basketball?
By Nicole Fogarty
The two teams featured in the 3PBL’s All-Star game last month.
Henry Street Settlement has a longstanding commitment to sports and recreation throughout its youth programs, be it through basketball leagues, dance classes or even opening one of the earliest public playgrounds on the Lower East Side. Sports and recreation can be an important vehicle for youth development, and we aren’t the only ones in the neighborhood who realize that.
One shining effort is the 3P Basketball League (3PBL), who held their All-Star game last month to celebrate outstanding performance by the players who most embodied 3PBL’s core values (which have less to do with athletic skills than one may think!).
“3PBL” refers to the league’s three “Ps” – purpose, poise and passion. Its participants are held to the high standards suggested in the name by coaches and league officials who act as role models and mentors,
The 12-week league’s culminating event, the All-Star game, saw a matchup of teams whose members were hand-picked for best representing those eponymous “Ps,” as well as funneling their passion for basketball into an opportunity for developing important life skills like positive role model relationships and self-expression.
“I strongly believe that 3PBL and sports and recreation programs are great because they offer the opportunity to connect the community with role models who can instill in the participants values for life. It’s easy for them all to meet on common terms: a love for basketball,” said League Manager Shirod Ince, who developed the structure and focus of the league, set up the games, distributed uniforms, kept score and more throughout the season.
“This league gives youth a positive outlet to express themselves,” said Anthony Andino, 301 Henry Street Coordinator of Sports and Recreation. “In developing this league, Shirod promoted the life skills that kids in our community crave, like pro-social relationships with mentors who can act as role models.”
The Settlement’s sports and recreation programs are available for youth ages 12 to 19 at two Henry Street locations (301 Henry Street and the Boys and Girls Republic), all at no cost. To learn more about different programs available, click here.
For tryout dates, stats, scores, photos and updates on sports and recreation at the Boys and Girls Republic, check out their Facebook group here.
