The Beyond Basketball program partners with elite travel basketball teams, local business leaders, charities and churches to accomplish 3 key things in the lives of elite young basketball players.
Expand their sense of identity so that they see themselves as more than just athletes, but as leaders in their community.
Inpire them to use their talent and influence to help their communities via hands-on service projects and leadership development from local business, faith and community leaders.
Enable them to pursue their athletic goals more aggressively by relieving the financial burden of elite youth sports through donated scholarships.
Local business owners donate $1,500 scholarships that cover the team fees for players (more on that in the next section). All players who receive Beyond Basketball scholarships participate in a leadership development program that includes...
Basketball used to be a sport that gave athletes life-changing opportunities regardless of their socio-economic status. Those days are over for the most part. Virtually all exposure and recruiting happens via travel basketball events, and playing on a travel team is EXPENSIVE. Higher level team fees are often close to $2,000 and don’t include travel expenses, game tickets for families, etc. It's not uncommon for families to sacrifice paying to watch their own kids play in order to afford the season. Some families can't afford to play at all.
You would be hard pressed to find more dedicated, hard-working young men than these elite athletes. Unfortunately, athletic success doesn't always translate to the rest of life. We believe that's often because many athletes don't have mentors in their life helping them think beyond their short-term goals. When their athletic career is over, players often struggle to understand how their training, teamwork, and drive can be applied off the court. By connecting these young men with established business, faith, and community leaders, we're lifting their gaze to see the horizon so-to-speak, thinking long-term. These connections will also serve as valuable relationships as they begin to enter the workforce. We get to help these "elite" players become "elite" men and leaders.
We are currently in the process of being established as an independent entity. In the meantime, His Hands Church in Woodstock, GA (the church home of Beyond Basketball's founder) recognizes Beyond Basketball as an official outreach program & partner. Therefore, checks can be made out to His Hands Church with Beyond Basketball in the "for" line. This ensures all donations are tax-deductible until we are fully established as our own entity. Donations are distributed directly to the travel program of the scholarship recipient at the beginning of their season, generally in February. Scholarship recipients receive an official scholarship letter recognizing their donor's contribution. In the case of anonymous donations, the scholarship letter will simply list the donor's first name. We will publish team pictures on our website at the start of travel season featuring our scholarship athletes.