Brooklyn Nets, NY Liberty Give Clinics At Brooklyn Schools

BROOKLYN, NY — Brooklyn students could soon get a visit from the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty thanks to a new partnership between the two teams and NYC Public Schools.

The star-studded athletic program kicked off Wednesday at P.S. 1 in Sunset Park, where Nets and Liberty coaches, Nets forward Cam Johnson and Liberty center Jonquel Jones hosted a free athletic clinic for students, according to the Brooklyn Nets.

The teams will host 20 weekly clinics at elementary and middle schools across Brooklyn during the students' gym period, a big increase to the teams' previous after-school clinics at individual Brooklyn schools.

All Brooklyn elementary and middle schools will participate in the clinics and will be chosen on a rolling basis throughout the year, according to the Nets.

The clinics will teach students the fundamentals of basketball along with "critical off-the-court life and leadership skills," according to the Nets.

NYC Department of Education Chancellor David Banks said he hopes the clinics will help students build leadership skills and healthy habits they can carry off the court.

"A partnership like this is a really big deal. This is a lot of kids lives that we're able to impact in a positive way. I know what basketball has done for me, getting to a professional level, but everybody that I knew playing basketball growing up, [it] definitely had a positive impact on them," Johnson said. "This level of interaction with the kids is something that's going to be really valuable to them."

Jones said the program will be particularly powerful for young female athletes in Brooklyn schools. Jones pointed to a statistic that by age 14, girls drop out of sports two times more often than young boys, according to the Women's Sports Foundation.

"We want to make sure that we have girls in sports because it helps to have stronger women, have business leaders, have people that can impact the community," Jones said.