Getting a Jump on Life : The Crenshaw YMCA’s popular basketball program teaches youths more than the fundamentals of the game.

On April 30, 1992, while the city of Los Angeles was in a state of mayhem, the youths at the Crenshaw YMCA were practicing basketball as usual.

It is not unusual for the Crenshaw YMCA staff to keep the dangers of society--no matter how impending--from interrupting the instruction of their kids.

“Parents know we will take care of their kids here,” said Chris Chapman, director of Youth Basketball Team Sports.

“Outside (the YMCA) there are gangs, drugs and violence. But inside these four walls is our world.”

That world has been the place to be for neighborhood youths since 1983, when the Crenshaw YMCA created its Youth Basketball Assn. program.

The growth of the nine-year-old program has been impressive. In 1983, 45 youths, ages 6 to 8, signed up to play. Last season, more than 400 players in four age groups, ranging from 6 to 18, played on 28 teams.

“The league is designed to teach young kids the fundamentals of basketball,” said Gregory Burks, executive director and vice president of Crenshaw YMCA branch operations.

Each January, before the season begins on the first Saturday in February, every player (new or returning) enters a skills-rating clinic for evaluation.

A player’s ability to shoot, rebound, dribble and pass is each given an individual rating between 1 and 5, with one being poor and five being exceptional.

Once every player has been rated, the information is entered into a computer and a draft is used to select players.

A coach is allowed to keep four of his returning players but cannot draft until the later rounds. A new coach is allotted early draft selections.

This entire process is aimed at maintaining parity and promoting fair competition within the various divisions.

“Our rules are designed so that there are no blowouts, every kid plays a mandatory two full quarters and every team makes the playoffs,” said Quinton Worthams, a Crenshaw YMCA board member and youth basketball coach.

But make no mistake about it, the kids take their basketball seriously.

“When I leave the gym, I practice my jump shot at home,” 8-year-old Richard VanZant said. “I like to play well.”

Even though the kids have years of growth ahead of them, they are not short on confidence.

“I like Magic Johnson because he is hard (good) like me,” 9-year-old Jamayne Potts said.

Potts, affectionately known as Spud to family and friends, won the scoring title--with seven points per game--in his age group last season.

“Our kids don’t make many mistakes because we teach them to play smart, team basketball,” Worthams said.

“Every kid will make a high school team because he is coach-able.”

A graduate of the program who may be knocking on the NBA’s door within the next few years is UCLA freshman Marquis Burns.

Burns, a former starter at Crenshaw High, played in the program when he was 9.

“Marquis was an excellent player, but he wasn’t even the best player on his team,” Worthams said. “We have 9-year-olds now whose skills are greater than Marquis’ were when he was that age.”

On game nights, Friday and Saturday, it’s hard to tell who has the most fun rooting for the players--the coaches or the parents.

“It’s a lot of fun, because I grew up participating in Boys Clubs and recreation centers,” former Tennessee State University basketball player and coach Lonnie Leslie said. “I get gratitude from helping out, because it’s about giving back (to the community).”

“I enjoy watching the kids run up and down the court,” said parent Shirley Simpson, mother of 10-year-old Sean Simpson. “When I go to a game, it’s my chance to scream out loud.”

VanZant’s mother, LaVerne, protested a couple of years ago that the teams were all named after Top 10 universities.

Soon thereafter, team names were changed to those of historically black colleges, such as Grambling State, Fisk and Morehouse.

“I wanted our kids to be familiar with the black universities instead of just the colleges they see on television,” VanZant said. “It’s important that our kids know that there are other schools out there, so they can learn more about their culture and heritage.”

The players, who don’t need to be Crenshaw residents to take part in the program, come from neighborhoods ranging from well-to-do View Park to South-Central.

But on game day, all differences--economic or otherwise--are put aside.

“Players stay after their games and watch their friends play, and so a camaraderie develops,” Worthams said.

In addition to learning to execute the crossover dribble or no-look pass, the players are taught about responsibility and hard work. Those are skills they will need in their other big game: life.

“Sean is naturally shy and bashful; (the league) has shown him how to relate with others and help him mature,” Simpson said.

Said Potts: “I like playing (in the league) because of the competition. But most of all because it’s fun.”