By Laura Katauskas | Bugle Staff
sweditor@buglenewspapers.com
@BugleNewspapers
For 50 area teens it was a chance to be part of a team; a chance to belong when family finances and timing may not have allowed the opportunity. Heart Haven OutReach, commonly known as H2O, recently held its sixth annual Character Counts 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament at Brooks Middle School in Bolingbrook. Heart Haven Outreach and DuPage Township teamed up with the Bolingbrook-Romeoville Character Counts Coalition to create a month-long basketball program that gives all teenagers in Bolingbrook and Romeoville the opportunity to participate in an organized sport. In addition, the goal is to help build relationships between teenagers and mentors that can contribute to positive life transformations.
“Teens come to participate for the love of basketball and sports, but sign up year after year because of meaningful relationships they build with their coaches and teammates,” said Ryan Lawrence, executive director of H2O.
Many of the students who participated in the tournament attend Valley View School District 365U, which has more than 4,000 students.
Lawrence said a school district of that size lacks space on its high school teams to include everyone interested in joining, while park district or traveling teams often times lack the necessary resources.
These factors can make earning a spot on a team rather difficult and that’s is why H2O started the event. Six years ago, a committee of adults from around the community put together an affordable month-long program of organized basketball, for $5 per teen. This year’s Character Counts 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament consisted of nine teams made up of 50 students and 11 coaches. The teams spent a total of 62 hours practicing in preparation for the tournament.
The championship game ended with the Ice team in first place and Pink team in second place.
Isiah Burd, a freshman at Bolingbrook High School, took first place in the skills challenge 3-point contest. The MVP of Character was awarded to BHS sophomore Nathaniel Graves for demonstrating character in honesty, respect, fairness, responsibility, caring and citizenship.
“This award is created not only to promote character in sports, but also character to carry on throughout life,” said Lawrence.
The presented sponsors for this event were WeatherTech, DuPage Township, Bolingbrook Golf Club, Valley View School District, Rick’s Landscaping and Lawn Care, VNA Health Care, PT Solutions, Lewis University Intramural Sports, Nancy’s Pizza, Costco Wholesale, Penn Station, Tailgaters Sports Bar and Grill, and Rasmussen College. Sponsors who helped provide practice space for teams were Bolingbrook Park District, New Life Lutheran Church, Romeoville Recreation Center and Westbrook Christian Church.