Making an Impact
Program meshes sports with books
By GEORGIA PURDY Newsboy Correspondent

Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy FORMER HOUSTON ROCKET ROBERT REID, right, goes over a defensive drill during the Basketball and Books camp held at Jasper High School last week.

Over 100 Jasper youngsters participated in the "Basketball & Books" free summer camp last week, sponsored by the Monica Lamb Wellness Foundation. Lamb, former Houston Comets center, founded the non-profit organization in 1999.

Former WNBA players, coaches from Houston and local basketball coaches staffed the camp. It also featured a different National Basketball Association legend from the Houston Chapter each day.

After retiring from professional basketball, Lamb founded her non-profit wellness program to promote wellness and fitness in women and children. Headquartered in Houston, the foundation does a variety of health and fitness-related programs.

Lamb said this is the first year the foundation has gone outside Harris County to offer the summer "Basketball &Books" program.

"There are a lot of programs to benefit youth going on in the Houston area," Lamb said. "The mission of our board is to go beyond Harris County because we feel there was a need."

Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy MONICA LAMB talks with a camper during the Basketball and Books camp.The camp is sponsored by the Monica Lamb Wellness Foundation

The summer camp teaches basketball fundamentals but also combines math and reading.

"We teach children that basketball is not unrelated to academics," Lamb said. "You must be smart in math and reading. That's a requirement in basketball. We have a curriculum, a book that we give the kids. It contains reading and math lessons as relates to basketball. Part of their day is spent in the court circuit and the other part in academics. We also want children to get up off the sofa and be active."

And active they were.

The Jasper High School gymnasium was filled with laughing, boisterous youngsters, learning to shoot, pass, and dribble. The instructors, coaches from Houston as well as local coaches, freely offered encouragement as they demonstrated basketball basics and put the children through the various drills.

ONI LATTIN, Monica Lamb's daughter and Jasper coach Shareba Smith serve pizza to a line of 130 hungry youngsters. Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy

Lamb said that local participation and support was excellent.

"This is a great week for us," she said. "The kids love it and the families love it. The local coaches are awesome. This group is a huge resource to Jasper Independent School District and the community. I hope people here recognize that."

A highlight of the program was the inclusion of members of the Legends of Basketball-Houston Chapter. These retired professional basketball players use their name recognition to support socially responsible outreach programs for youth.

Robert Reid, who spent 13 years in the NBA, 11 of those with the Houston Rockets, was Tuesday's guest. Reid spent time with the children, talking with them and demonstrating the proper way to execute various basketball fundamentals.

"There is an unwritten rule among professional athletes in Houston that when we are asked to show up, we go," Reid said. "This is the fourth or fifth of Monica's camps I've been to and she has been to our camps. We go a long way back."

Reid said that years ago he kept hearing about Monica and finally saw her in a tournament.

"I thought, 'This girl's going somewhere,'" he said. "When she played in the WNBA, she started to see the picture off the court. She's done something a lot of us see as a positive use of your name- to touch lives. She is a tremendous role model for young ladies."

Jasper High School boys varsity coach Terry Young said that the program was a great opportunity for the community and the youngsters who attended. Jasper basketball coaches assisted with the camp.

"This is a great form of community service," Young said. "To have former members of the WNBA, the NBA and coaches from Houston come here to work with our kids is just awesome. I've been involved in a lot of basketball camps but this is the first one to have an academic component. It's a great thing for the kids."

Young said the JISD administration was very supportive of the program.

"We really appreciate the support from administration in allowing us to do this," he said. "The exposure it (the camp) has gotten Jasper is great plus our kids have gotten an opportunity to meet WNBA and NBA Legends."

Young was hired as an assistant director and will travel to other camps. Jasper, Angelina, Polk, and Tyler counties were selected for this first venture beyond the Houston area.

"Monica is impressed with the program here in Jasper and has given our entire coaching staff the opportunity to work with the other camps this summer if they wish," he said. "The participation in Jasper has been overwhelming. We've had well over 100 kids a day. Parents love it and the kids have had a great time. And it's free. This is really an awesome program for our community."