Monumental Sports & Entertainment Launches “District of Play” – A Groundbreaking Youth Sports Initiative in Washington, D.C.
11.01.24
PCA spoke with Katrice Dickson, Senior Manager, Youth Basketball Growth & Development Washington Wizards/Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Shannon Clancy, Director, Youth Basketball Washington Wizards /Monumental Sports & Entertainment about District of Play their new partnership with PCA.
PCA: Monumental Sports & Entertainment recently announced District of Play, a multi-million-dollar, multi-year investment to provide safe play spaces, essential equipment, and community engagement opportunities for all children in the nation’s capital. This is a significant investment focused on providing safe play spaces, empowering players, and engaging parents, coaches, and the Community.
Shannon Clancy: I’ve been here since 2017, and we have been involved in many projects and what is different about this initiative is that it is a full-on multimillion dollar commitment. We are focused on how we can support every aspect of youth sports in the community. So it’s exciting and we can’t wait to get these programs off the ground.
PCA: The breadth of the commitment is remarkable and certainly going to change the landscape of youth sports in the area. What role will PCA play in the work?
Shannon Clancy: The work that we are doing with PCA is a huge part of the District of Play initiative. We want to reach kids and know coaches are on the front lines with kids and so they are the ones we want to provide training so that they can make a better impact with the kids.
Katrice Dickson: We can’t always have a hands-on approach ourselves and we want to reach as many coaches, teachers, recreation centers, and schools as we can to help develop kids, and coaches allow us to do that.
Shannon Clancy: We’ve set out with a lot of these programs to make sure that kids have access to safe spaces and play, and coaching is part of that. Yes you want to be able to have a court that’s nice and safe but the coaches are there every day. They are there dealing with the development of children and importantly dealing with any mental health issues they see. To make sure the kids are safe, we need to train coaches so it is a safe space from that perspective.
PCA: Thank you so much for making PCA a part of this transformational work. From the grant Monumental is providing, PCA will engage the community through a multi-faceted approach that ensures authenticity and alignment with the needs of DC youth. Aiming to ensure that programming is not only aligned with local challenges, but also tailored to drive equitable participation and positive experiences.
To achieve these goals, PCA will undertake community listening campaigns, and roundtable discussions with local stakeholders designed to promote sports equity, cultural proficiency, and community engagement. Data gathered will inform actionable recommendations for improving sports access, and guide initiative refinement, ensuring it meets evolving community needs.
In addition to community engagement, PCA will provide a variety of training opportunities for coaches, student-athletes, and parents. This work will include live workshops for DCPS’s over 300 middle school coaches, enhancing their ability to support life skills development and social emotional learning. Engagements with local student-athletes, targeting DCPS’s 24 middle schools for on-field station-based activities designed to get them thinking about; not fearing mistakes; treating their teammates, opponents and officials with respect; and understanding the power of positivity. And the support of local families and caregivers through a series of “Positive Sports Parenting” events.