Page 52 - FOP March 2017 Newsletter

Future NBA stars shine in Englewood
n BY NICK SWEDBERG
Youngsters from the Englewood neighbor- hood with dreams of one day joining the ranks of NBA stars came together in Feb- ruary for a basketball competition held by a 7th District officer.
The local Jr. NBA
Skills Challenge is part
of an ongoing pro-
gram run by Officer
Michelle Millison, a 16-year veteran of the Department. The intention is to give kids more exposure to athletics, especially in sports in which they would not otherwise participate. “We’re building the program; we’re getting the youth involved. It’s developing into a safe haven,” Milli- son said.
Millison, who has worked with Chicago’s youth through much of her career with the Department, has a simple motto: “From Englewood to Hollywood.” Her goal is to help find avenues of success through sports for children from Chicago’s toughest neighborhood. She sees the bas-
ketball skills challenge as one such avenue.
Girls and boys 14 years old or younger competed in a drib- bling and shooting competition. They had 60 seconds to score as many points as possi- ble from markers set around the shooting perimeter. Several of the young hoopsters
(including last year’s winner, who went on to win the na- tional competition) in the local contest will go to the re- gional competition, which will be held in April, Millison said.
Over the next several months, Millison’s program will offer youth the chance to participate in instructional bowling, golfing, fishing and soccer camps. She also plans to get children into swimming instruction, since many kids in the area don’t know how to swim. These sports, she explains, require discipline and can offer scholarships, “because not everyone is going to the NBA or the NFL.” d
52 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2017