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WORLD GAME BUSINESS
WORDS. Rachel Marcus PHOTOS. Shooting Touch
Basketball Dream Job
In the bustling township of Philippi in Cape Town, South Africa, Leah Westbrooks and other volunteers with Hoops 4 Hope would frequently visit a nearby outdoor basketball court and play with the local kids. One day, a parent came over with a concerned look and asked the volunteers what they were doing.
When Westbrooks and the other volunteers said they were coaching and teaching the kids basketball among other sports, the parent asked, "Why?" One of the volunteers said they wanted to. The parent then asked if they were being paid or if it was a job. After one of the volunteers said no, the demeanor of the parent completely changed.
"Suddenly out of nowhere, they said, 'Well thank you.' And that was it," says Westbrooks. "Then they walked away."
The parent didn't understand the idea that volunteers like Westbrooks just want to create a safe and enjoyable environ- ment for underprivileged chil- dren. Westbrooks felt the need to create change for children that have never had consistency in their lives. And as the recipient of the Shooting Touch Sabbatical Program, she's doing just that in the form of a 10-month overseas journey where she's using basketball to change lives.
The children's need for consistency was evident when Westbrooks was at a school in that same township during the beginning of her journey. She would go to different schools a couple of days a week, and was consistently at each school each week. But the kids didn't understand the concept.
"Every time, the same kid will ask if I'll be back," says Westbrooks. "Like, 'You'll be here Wednesday Leah?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm here every Wednesday. I'm here every Wednesday for you.' I'm not gonna break that promise."
But how were the kids to know she wouldn't disappear with all the instability in their lives? How can you feel secure, as a child, when you're living in extreme poverty? The kids would sometimes show up to camp without shoes.
"But they're just over the moon to be there," says Westbrooks.
The township where these children live is essentially a city of shacks. There are no televisions or computers in every home. There's overcrowding and an overflow of the population and a separation between township and suburb. On one side, there's the suburb. On the other, there's basically a shanty town. Whole families are housed in shacks.
"It's hard to see," says Westbrooks, who grew up in Ireland but came stateside to play college basketball at Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg, Md. "It's easy for people to get comfortable in your surroundings and you can create a bubble. It's definitely given me a bigger perspective just to keep my eyes open and not to become so self-consumed and concerned about silly little things in life when other people's realities are so much more harsh and so much more difficult."
It's this realization of Westbrooks and her desire to create change that set her on this journey in the first place.
WESTBROOKS BEAT OUT 79 other appli- cants to earn the sabbatical grant.
To Shooting Touch president and founder Justin Kittredge, Westbrooks' trademark enthusiasm and passion for helping others set her apart.
"There was just something about Leah that really stood out," says Kittredge. "If you spend not even five minutes with her you automatically get this sense of joy from her."
And the relationship between Westbrooks and Shooting Touch works both ways.
Shooting Touch, based in Boston, began in 2007, but the Sabbatical Program is in its sec- ond year. In the program, one college gradu-
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