Campers Dribble, Shoot, Score! At The Q

“Shoot that ball, shoot, shoot that ball!” Aubreigh, 9, stomped, clapped, and chanted as she cheered on her friend, who was angling her basketball at a hoop in the Q House gymnasium. Swish!

Aubreigh and her fellow Leadership, Education, & Athletics in Partnership (LEAP) summer campers landed shot after shot Friday morning at a youth basketball clinic hosted at the Dixwell Community ​“Q” House, where themed centennial celebrations of the community center’s ​“Past, Present, and Future” are underway.

“You’ll look back when you’re my age and say, ​‘You know, I was there when the Q House turned 100 and I celebrated by playing basketball,” said Dixwell Alder and Q House Advisory Board Chair Jeannette Morrison, who welcomed over 100 LEAP campers between the ages of 7 and 12 to the basketball clinic.

The Q House, which is celebrating its 100-year anniversary, has been a cornerstone of culture and community in the Dixwell neighborhood since its founding in 1924. Since January, the newest version of the center has hosted a scanning day of Q House artifacts, rededicated its adjacent plaza to writer-historian-community leader Daniel Y. Stewart, and planned a centennial gala for Sept. 27 in celebration of the former settlement house’s ​“Past, Present, and Future.”

“As African Americans, basketball is something we’ll always have,” Morrison explained. ​“From the beginning, the Q House offered a place for kids to play sports, especially basketball. Boys and girls both had teams that learned the fundamentals of the formal game, developed technical athletic skills and established championship teams that competed with teams from different states.”

Friday’s clinic was organized in collaboration with Recreational & Educational Achievement for Disengaged Youth (READY) Inc., an organization dedicated to help young people discover their purpose and reach their full potential. Founder Tyrese Sullivan launched the nonprofit in 2020. It now offers services in mentorship, entrepreneurship, and recreation.

Sullivan also coaches the West Haven High School basketball team. Six of his players ran Friday’s clinic for volunteer hours, coaching the campers through agility, dribbling, layups, and shooting baskets.

Bobby Bynum, a former student of Sullivan’s who now coaches basketball through

Inc., was excited to coach students in a sport that he has played his entire life: ​“I’m grateful to [Sullivan] for giving me the opportunity to mentor these kids in the way that he mentored me.”

Isaiah, 7, was frustrated when his basketball fell just a few feet short of the hoop at the layup station. ​“I can’t do it!”

But, when asked about his experience, Isaiah reflected on what he learned from the clinic: ​“I don’t play basketball a lot, so I’m not good at it. But I did dribble the ball, so that was good!”