WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Some of the best basketball players, at all levels, have come out the DMV.
With great high school talent and several high profile college programs in the area, the Wizards decided to bring it all together Saturday morning and hold their first annual coaches workshop at the Entertainment and Sports Arena.
“I grew up in the 1980s in Boston and that drove me as a young person to want to be involved in basketball,” Wizards head coach Brian Keefe said. “This is our home, we want to make this so we feel like the community is part of what we’re doing and we’re going to make a really substantial effort to do that,”
Coaches of all levels from throughout the area attended the event to hear from Keefe and three college head coaches: Georgetown’s Ed Cooley, Howard’s Kenny Blakeney and American’s Duane Simpkins.
“DC basketball is entrenched in the DNA and the fibers of this city and basketball means so much to our community,” Blakeney said. “To bring our community together, to try to strengthen the knowledge of all the coaches in the city, it means a lot.”
For Blakeney, sitting alongside Simpkins is familiar. The two have known each other since they played youth basketball together and at DeMatha under legendary coach Morgan Wootten.
“To share this moment with [Simpkins], to share this stage with him, is something that I’ve been thinking about,” Blakeney said. “Something that’s truly special for us growing up here in the DMV and also being DeMatha alums.”
During their presentations to the coaches in attendance, the college coaches shared their tricks of the trade. In his presentation, Simpkins referenced American’s loss to Georgetown last season and how the team learned from that loss to win a game days later.
The coaches said Saturday that it’s important to continue the tradition of success in DMV basketball and support the community, while also keeping local talent in the area.
“I don’t think there’s a better talent pool in America, if not the world, than this DMV,” Cooley said. “I’m so excited and grateful that I had an opportunity to come over here and just share a little bit of insight into what I’m learning and trying to do.”
For the Wizards, it’s an event they enjoyed putting on.
“Giving an opportunity for people to help grow,” Keefe said. “To help learn something today so that maybe that can spark something for themselves or maybe the players that they’re working for.”
