A pile of kids blocked the entrance to the Martin Luther King Center as they hurriedly signed their registration forms. The sky grew dark as groups of them massed into the gymnasium with booming music by DaBaby, Drake and Pop Smoke.
At first glance, a gymnasium filled with about 50 youth shooting a ball around may not seem like much. But to the kids in Gainesville, it means more.
The Teen Midnight Basketball youth program in Gainesville is up and running for 2024.
The program is held on the first Friday of every month until August at the Martin Luther King Center from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. On April 12, about 50 kids were in attendance ready to play and — more importantly — win.
There was a referee whistling the numerous fouls for each 3-on-3 half-court game, and a scorekeeper kept the scoreboards updated for the crowd watching.
There was even an MC on a microphone that kept the energy up, engaging the crowd of kids and teenagers with an “Airball'' yell or two.
Dwright Jackson, recreation manager for the City of Gainesville, worked behind the scenes to keep Midnight Basketball operating. The program began in 2022.
Before the program came to fruition, the idea was to create something for teenagers during the summertime when they have more free time.
“The overall goal was to provide that age group with some form of safe summer activity,” said Jackson.
Seventeen-year-old Ahlani Burney attended last Friday because it’s something fun to do and it’s something fun to watch. She said it’s a good environment.
“I think they (the kids) come to keep themselves out of trouble,” said Burney, and she thinks it’s working.
According to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, the number of youth arrest intakes increased 12% from 731 in 2021-2022 to 818 in 2022-2023.
The department defines intakes as the screening and assessment of a youth who is alleged to have violated the law or a court order. Arrests in this data mean a law enforcement officer takes a youth into custody based on probable cause and charges the youth with a law violation. The data covers children aged 10 to 17.
Kevin Simmons, 11, has been to four events for this program. He said he likes coming to these events because it’s good competition. He is already planning to attend next month’s event.
Kevin’s teammate Mason Carter, 13, said, “I came to play against older competition and even though I might lose I wanted to get better.”
Kevin and Mason’s team lost in the first round 15-6, but the boys were just happy to come out and play.
“Even though we came out here and lost, we competed and that’s what matters,” said Mason. Despite losing, there wasn’t any tension or feelings of defeat. The boys laughed and teased each other about missing a shot or a layup.
Mason said he will definitely be at next month’s game.
Jackson said that Midnight Basketball is about more than just playing basketball but about exposing the teens to different life skills. On April 12, Mark Williams, 36, came and spoke to the kids about their health and nutrition. Williams has his own personal training consultancy called Body Mechanics by Mark Williams.
“Looking back, I wish I had somebody come back and tell me how to treat my body as an athlete so anytime you get the opportunity to give back I think you have to take advantage of it,” said Williams.
Jackson is planning to have a VyStar Bank representative come out to one of the upcoming Midnight games to speak and teach financial literacy.
“For the community, it gave those kids a chance to embrace, to come together, to play ball and all make friends,” Jackson said.
The next Midnight Basketball events will be May 3, June 7 and July 5 from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. and the last one of the summer will be Aug. 2 from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m.
