Friday, September 18, 2009

Midnight Basketball

a Biblical thought...
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. (Mark 8:35)

a Book thought...
Catching a God-sized vision gives the Lord an opportunity to do something amazing in you and through you. (p172) a Dave thought...
During some workshops I attended this week addressing issues surrounding disadvantaged youth, I was made aware of an activity called Midnight Basketball. I believe it is such a brilliant idea I thought it would be worth posting some info on it…

Midnight Basketball is a national social inclusion programme to help youth identify and embrace positive opportunities. Dinner, compulsory lifeskills workshops and tournament basketball games are run in stadiums on Saturday nights from 7.30pm till midnight, providing a safe and motivating environment. The Midnight Basketball program was launched in Redfern Sydney in 2006 and was such a success the program spread nationally. Midnight Basketball is open to youth aged 12 to 18 years.
Basketball is used as it is a fast and inclusionary game. While the actual sport is not important per se, Basketball is actually the only sport that caters for all the requirements and fits with the inclusionary culture: it caters to all areas of sporting ability (some sports require a high level of skill which would exclude some players), is a magnet to both genders and ages, provides great mentoring opportunities (the older players mentor the younger players in their team), is played on basketball courts (which are small enough to house indoors), and is held inside which is important from a safety and climate (eg, rain, darkness) perspective - given they are looking after 60-80 youth till midnight these are all important to creating happy, high energy and safe environments. http://www.midnightbasketball.org.au

Just a thought.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great idea!

Anonymous said...

Totally fantastic! I want in!