Hoops For Hope Now On The Net

It's been a year since two Amagansetters, Mark Crandall and Anthony Allison, spoke of their hopes for an organization Mr. Crandall had begun in southern Africa called Hoops for Hope, a nonprofit, community-based effort that seeks to build self-esteem through the sport of basketball and to nurture leadership among the youth of South Africa and Zimbabwe.

"Today's [South African] youth now realize," Mr. Crandall and Mr. Allison have written in the Hoops for Hope's mission statement, "that health and sport are not just for the privileged few, but can be a prelude to a productive future. Many communities are still deprived of any recreational facilities. The building of just one basketball court in a community can create a spiral of positive change that can affect an entire community."

New Web Site

"I think the biggest thing that's happened for us in the past year," said Mr. Crandall during a recent conversation, before he left for Zimbabwe, where he runs a sports camp modeled after the East Hampton Sports Camp he oversees at the East Hampton Neighborhood House in the summer, "is that our new interactive Web site is up and running. Now, kids here can talk with kids over there."

"They can find out about the lives of the kids in South Africa, how they compare, how they're different," he continued. "I can see pen pals happening this year. I'd love to get East Hampton High School involved. From there, it's endless. You could do a variety of different things. The world can get very small at times."

East Hampton High, noted Mr. Crandall and Mr. Allison, has already played a part in furthering Hoops for Hope's mission, which in South Africa is to provide sturdy portable hoops and other basketball equipment, as well as coaching books and videos, in the country's high-density, gang-infested suburbs.

High School's Donation

"Anthony was running at the track last summer and Mike Burns [a physical education instructor at the high school] asked him if he were still involved in Hoops for Hope," Mr. Crandall began. "'You're in luck,' said Mr. Burns, who was our coach. 'Be here on Monday.'"

"I pulled up on Monday with a van, and the high school gave us a mother lode of old East Hampton uniforms and basketball cheerleading practice jerseys. It was a great thing."

"Working with Inkamva Labantu, a Cape Town nonprofit organization which has an office in New York, we filled a crate donated by a marine company full of the sporting equipment East Hampton had given us and for basketballs and shoes that William [Hartwell, a former Hoops for Hope board member] had collected from the Montauk School. It should be there by now."

"One thing we want to stress," said Mr. Allison, "is that we're community-based and we intend to stay that way. South Africa's history does not lend itself to two white American men telling them how to run something, even if it's sports. What the country lends itself to is showing compassion and understanding for the very difficult transition that's going on. We think sport can help in the post-apartheid period, but we need to get as much input as we can from the people who live there."

New Hoops

"From last December to May," said Mr. Crandall, "I connected with youth groups on that side. Our main purpose is to support these groups that have structures in place. There are six major organizations we deal with, organizations that have their fingers on the pulses of their communities. They know what's needed where."

Acting on the advice of youth group leaders in southern Africa, Hoops for Hope in March provided the John Pama Primary School in the high-density Cape Town suburb of Nyanga with a set of $500 hoops, made by local craftsmen, and in May, did the same in Kuwadzana, Zimbabwe.

"In Zimbabwe," said Mr. Crandall, "they had been playing in a parking lot with very dangerous homemade hoops with the poles stuck into cement-filled tires that would come crashing down when they were bumped. There, we put up the baskets in a central community spot, at the end of a tennis court. A real professional setup in cement - there to stay."

Dream Answered

The hoops at the John Pama school answered a dream of its basketball coach, Monwabisi Planga, who had for more than a year pleaded for a set of hoops so that his players could shoot as well as pass and dribble.

"They had a team, but no court," said Mr. Crandall. After talking with Liz Bester, a former provincial player, who has had great success with the Hout Bay Dolphins, "I went to the school and met the kids. They were very deserving. All the kids helped to put the baskets up. It was part of a big celebration."

"A school from a neighboring township, Khayalitsha, came over to play the day we christened the hoops. It was amazing. The very next day Mr. Planga's team doubled. Now, a high school and another school come to play there. The hoops are not just for the primary school. We're pretty proud that that $500 investment has gone so far."

Teen's Testimonial

Mr. Crandall has gathered a number of testimonials from the young African players to the power of basketball to inspire self-confidence and hope for a better life. One, by 13-year-old Sindiswa Nyaba of Nyanga, says, "I like basketball because they save me from being on the street and being in fights in the afternoon. But now I don't fight in the afternoon because I go to school and play basketball and stretch my muscles."

Mr. Allison and Mr. Crandall hope that the new Web site (www.hoopsafrica.org) will, among other things, enable the nonprofit organization to provide more hoops, sneakers, uniforms, and balls to southern Africa's at-risk youth, and to provide their mentors with coaching books and videos.

"To provide a child with a team jersey or sneakers brings tears of joy, self-esteem, and a sense of belonging," the two have written in their mission statement. "It's helping South Africa's youth reach their full potential by providing self-sufficiency, an opportunity to empower themselves, to trust each other, and to solve conflicts in a healthy and peaceful manner."

T-Shirts, Tourney

"This year," said Mr. Allison, "we're going to sell T-shirts with logos designed by Jeff Gamble, a graphic artist, wherever we can. All the money will go to Hoops for Hope. And I'm working on a form letter to send to prospective donors, and also a form letter for high school and college athletic directors asking them for any used equipment so we can solidify that part of the program. Then, we plan to have a three-on-three basketball tournament here next summer."

"I know I'm being redundant," he continued, "but keeping this community-based is the only way for things like this to work - even in our own country."

Mr. Allison added, "There's a very fine line between assisting and taking a step back. We're trying to work with others - we're not trying to impose ourselves. It's been very exciting for us because it's been so much of a shared experience."

Petrie's Books

"And it follows that if we can do it, maybe somebody else will say, 'We can do it too,' with a little time and a little groundwork. Whatever it might be. And I must say, helping others does feel good."

Just before he left for Zimbabwe last week, Mr. Crandall added that Ed Petrie, the veteran East Hampton High School boys basketball coach, had jump-started Hoops for Hope's coaching library with "35 years of books," that Craig Scott, formerly of Amagansett, who now teaches and coaches in Glens Falls, added more, and that the East Hampton Rotary Club had made a $500 donation.

Hoops for Hope's address is P.O. Box 895, East Hampton, N.Y., 11937.