Brooklyn Saints Documentary

 We Are the Brooklyn Saints
e1pTheatre Documentary

A great movie about the impact of coaches in the community and how it brings family together. Loved this documentary. Encourage everybody to check it out and to show love to coaches in your community that are brining up the next generation of athletes and scholars. There are a lot of threads here to sports culture in New York, the challenges of coaching for community, building up self esteem, creating opportunities early for kids, creating safety nets through sports from the perils of U.S. society, and thinking about the impact when city groups don’t support children’s connection to outlets like sports. There’s a powerful connection to coaches as mentors, inspirations, teachers, guides, etc. presented in this documentary.

The beginning was real powerful thinking about what Brooklyn Saints Co-Founder Coach Shon said…”We used what they call P-A-L. Police Athletic Leagues. NO MORE! They used to leave the schools open for activities. All of those programs are cut. This is where we step in.”

Coach Puma adds, “We just try to put you in position where you can better yourself in life. It don’t have to be with sports. Doctor, a lawyer, it could be any one of those things. As log as we get you a free education, we did our job.”

Support this film right here, support your local athletic programs and push folks that are in a position to fund or cut to make more programming a priority for children in your community. Especially in spaces where money determines who plays. Much love to the Brooklyn Saints.

You can follow the Brooklyn Saints on Twitter @BrooklynSaints8

As posted at every1plays.org click here

El Barrio Sports Club

Here's a throwback #e1pWWW post from June 2015. For the first time #e1pStory shares the audio conversation with Coach Cruz that went down that day. I've also included a few photographs below. More are available at the Twitter and Facebook links below. Shout out to our Segundo Barrio families and the El Barrio Sports Club which is coming up on its 50 year anniversary.

Introducing El Barrio Sports Club in El Paso, Texas Cruz Morales, Jr. post every1plays.org web Archive June 28, 2015

Introducing Cruz Morales, Jr... born and raised in El Paso's South side, and Class of 88' Bowie Bear Alumni by way of Beall Elementary and Guillen Middle... he is also a proud Gulf War Veteran of the Air Force.  For the past 15 years, Cruz has been facilitating sporting events, including basketball tournaments on the corner of Raynor and Findley for children, youth, and adults.

Playoffs for the El Barrio men's basketball league are underway through June as fourteen teams compete to try and make it to the finals. Over the past couple years, my younger brothers have been participating in the adult men's b-ball league.

We got the chance to talk to Cruz about the sports club and its history.  For Cruz it goes back to the gang rivalries that disconnected youth from each other and the community.  Living in a historically under served and low-income area only added to the struggles of gang involved youth reconnecting to something positive in the community. This motivated Cruz, who understood their circumstances and today is the director for the El Barrio Sports Club.  For Cruz being able to bridge the gap through sports amongst a generation of kids who's parents were once gang rivals, is what Cruz is most proud of.  With support from city representatives such as Courtney Niland and neighborhood collaboration, the El Barrio Sports Club is about creating affordable and accessible opportunities for children, youth, and adults to play, compete, and connect with each other in a family friendly environment.

And it's not only basketball.  Cruz helps coordinate volleyball tournaments (currently planning for September) and soccer for both males and females, children to adults.  For more information you can email Cruz Morales, Jr. cmorales@dekko.com or call at (915) 858-1915 ext. 69132.

Got a few more photographs that we'll share on social media soon, check out twitter.com/every1plays and facebook.com/e1p44

Peace!

-Lee

Photograph and write up by Lee Rhyanes*