By Angela Pereira
On Saturday mornings, learning begins at Lisgar Collegiate Institute with the blow of the whistle instead of the ring of the bell.
Abdullah Deria, 19, pulls himself out of bed at a time when most students are still asleep and travels across the city to Lisgar’s gym while thinking up game strategies.
Ten players are waiting for the tall, soft-spoken university student. He will try to coach them on how to win on the basketball court.
These are 10 of the about 150 teens who play in the Somali Youth Basketball League, a non-profit operation that has been praised by Ottawa police as a crime prevention program that works.
The league began its fifth season in October with improvements to its program and with more demand from students wanting to play, says Sharmarke Abdullahi, chairperson of the league.
Abdullahi says the league had to turn down six teams that wanted to play this year and they are now trying to find a gym to use on Sundays to accommodate the high demand.
Const. Mahamud Elmi, a founder of the league, says the program is popular because it provides teens in the Somalian community with a competitive and fun activity.
“The first thing kids ask when they see you is, ‘when is the league starting again?’” he says.
The teens who play in the league come from all across the city.
Elmi and two others began the league in 2003 when they realized teens in the Somalian community didn’t have structured activities on the weekend.
In a speech in April of this year, Ottawa police Chief Vince Bevan said the league is the “perfect” model of a program developed by a community in response to their young people’s needs.
“It has definitely made a difference in the community,” says Abdullahi.
“The kids go to practices, have games, have goals… it gives them a reason to be motivated.”
Basketball attracts the teens to the program, but volunteers who run the league also build mentoring relationships with the players and encourage them to keep up with schoolwork, says Elmi.
This season the league has started opening up a classroom on Saturdays so players can study between games, says Abdullahi.
There are five games every Saturday from September to April, with each team coming from a different Ottawa area.
The teams are divided into juniors, who range from ages 13 to 16, and seniors, who range from ages 16 to 19. All the players are male.
Deria now coaches the senior team from Kanata, but he started as a player two years ago.
Elmi says it’s players like Deria who prove the league is a success.
“These guys are coming back, they’re coaching … it’s giving them responsibility and it’s teaching them how to be a role model,” says Elmi.
This is the first year the league has provided clinics for their coaches.
Deria says he never coached before, but the league gave him training on how to do things like create game strategies.
“All through high school I did the basics [in basketball] but I wasn’t much of a leader,” he says. “The league gave me a chance to step out of my shell and gain respect.”
Abdullahi says that while the league began in the Somalian community, teens from all communities in Ottawa now participate in it. He adds they plan to invite other Ottawa-area basketball teams to play in a tournament with the Somali league teams later this year.
The league is also successful because volunteers like Deria are dedicated and want to give back to their community, says Elmi.
As well as coaching the games on Saturdays, Deria runs practices during the week.
“All the kids that are playing in Kanata are now looking up to [Deria],” says Abdullahi.
Although he isn’t much older than many players on his team, Deria says he has no problem controlling his team.
“I earned respect by playing in the league,” says Deria. “And the older guys realize they have to be leaders as well.”