AMBITIOUS SPORTS PROGRAMS HELP CITY’S MIDDLE SCHOOLERS STAY OUT OF TROUBLE IN THE CLASSROOM

12.11.08
The Examiner
Andrew Cannarsa

Eleven-year-old John Boyd III was busy on a recent Wednesday afternoon with two things: his squash serve, and fraction addition and subtraction.

Sound interesting? It’s a normal afternoon for John and 15 other Booker T. Washington Middle School students, the first group of Baltimore youth to participate in Baltimore SquashWise, a new nonprofit empowering city children through athletic and academic activity.

“It’s good exercise, and it helps you with your homework,” John, a sixth-grade student, said as he pored over a fraction worksheet in a classroom at Meadow Mill Athletic Club. “In school, you just sit down and do work. Here, you have time to play.”

The program, in its first year and modeled after other squash-and-academics programs across the country, helps Baltimore City students grow and mature with one-on-one guidance. The three-times-a-week instruction preaches teamwork and respect on the squash court, and commitment and focus in the classroom.

“Squash is the hook,” said Abby Markoe, the program’s executive director and an avid squash player. “It’s something unique, giving these kids an experience that’s different from their peers. But it’s about a lot more than just squash.”

With Baltimore City’s classrooms overcrowded and its teachers overburdened, there’s a need for nonprofits that provide personal, individual instruction for the city’s youth. The students involved have economic and academic needs that qualify them for the program.

“The kids aren’t getting individual attention at school,” Markoe said. “The teachers are trying really hard, but when kids get any attention, it’s usually negative if they’ve done something wrong. This program is about promoting positive attention.”

Kids working together
Patrick Turner, president and founder of Baltimore’s Turner Development Group, said he grew up poor and with limited access to activities such as squash or rowing.

So he knows too much free time can spell trouble for city youth, recognizing the need to keep children occupied with positive activities. “The Baltimore education system is in pretty bad shape,” Turner said. “There’s just not that much out there for these kids.”

Turner, developing the Westport Waterfront community on the Middle Branch, in 2006 noticed the Baltimore Rowing Club’s Juniors Program working together on the water. “I never knew how intense of a sport it was — it’s physically and mentally demanding, and it’s really the ultimate team sport,” Turner said. “But we noticed there weren’t many urban kids involved.”

So Turner went about working with the BRC and changing the makeup of its Juniors Program. He provided about $3,000 to establish 10 scholarships to allow area youth to take up rowing, a sport they might otherwise never have the opportunity to try.

It was difficult to recruit willing members at first, but scholarships were awarded to eight boys and two girls — eight came from single-family or foster homes. The students got to know each other and overcome their anxiety of a new experience together, Turner said. “You have to work together to succeed in rowing.”

The team practiced several times a week after school, eventually growing as a unit and even winning some races. “It was amazing to see the results so quickly,” Turner said. “These kids [grew up in a dangerous community]. Now they’re [being considered for] private schools, college.”

Impressed with those results, Turner last year expanded the program with help from industrial supplier Honeywell, making a three-year commitment to the program and providing 25 scholarships to at-risk youth and enabling citywide recruitment. The increased financial commitment went to the purchase of boats and other equipment and funded college tours to area schools.

“This program is opening a lot of doors for these kids,” Turner said. “Our goal is to keep expanding — the results are definitely there.”

‘College — that’s the goal’
Maryland’s nonprofit community and the outlets that fund the programs recognize the importance of youth programs such as SquashWise and the BRC’s Juniors Program. “Nonprofits have always stepped up to do the work that government can’t fully fund and no for-profit company wants to do because the work is at best break-even,” said Nancy Hall, senior adviser of the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations.

“Sports programs for Baltimore’s kids is a case where nonprofits do fill a gap,” Hall added. “The public schools no longer have funds to provide a lot of sports activities, especially for the younger kids. So nonprofit organizations, like McKim Center in Baltimore, work to make communities better by providing ways for kids to get some exercise and learn teamwork in a safe, caring environment.”

The work continues for groups like SquashWise. Markoe and organizers raised $150,000 last year for the program’s first year of operation in Baltimore, and she’s in the process of grant writing and fundraising for 2009’s new SquashWise group. “It’s definitely tough in this economy to get funding from individual donors, so we’re really looking to foundations to help us grow and expand,” Markoe said.

Markoe said this year’s squash group will stay in the program, and a new batch of 16 sixth-graders will join the program next year. Markoe stays in close contact with teachers and administrators at Booker T. Washington to monitor how her program members are progressing in school.

Ultimately, Markoe wants to see this year’s group move on from squash with bigger goals in mind.
“I want all the kids to stay in the program,” Markoe said. “I want all of them to move on to college — that’s the goal.”

After just a few weeks, SquashWise is having its desired effect.

“I like it, I’m working on my backhand,” said Stevie Armstrong, a 13-year-old SquashWise member. “It helps me stay out of trouble. If I get in trouble, I won’t be able to stay in squash.”

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