WY hosts summer hoops tournaments
August 28, 2014
Nike and the Jordan Brand’s mission of expanding summer basketball in Chicago is coming to fruition.
This year’s Chi-League was a huge success and hosted in WY’s own gym. In addition to the Nike Pro-Am tournament, headlined by NBA players such as Chicago’s own Anthony Davis and Jabari Parker, and others including Iman Schumpert, Will Bynum, Scottie Pippin and Draymond Green, Whitney Young also hosted a number of youth basketball camps and basketball events. These events all coincided with the Chi-League summer tournament which was ten-weeks long, featuring many well-known players from Chicago. There were 30 professional players as well as 180 from around the city. Whitney Young’s gym was constantly packed because as many as four games would be played in a day and admission was free.
The Chi-League has also expanded throughout the city beyond WY through Chi-League Parks which was started by Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippin and Mayor Rahm Emmanuel. At several locations throughout the city, youth were given free basketball clinics, lessons, workouts and seminars to improve their game.
Chi-League School has also been started by Scottie Pippin. It was a five week program that fielded over 400 high school students and had a life skills development program in addition to mentorship programs.