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$7M fields to help with waitlists for kids sports in this part of Pierce County

Construction is underway on two artificial turf fields at the future Gig Harbor Sports Complex, another step forward in a massive project to address the demand from youth sports for lit turf fields in Gig Harbor. Phase 1A of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex will add two synthetic turf fields, field lighting and 100 parking […]

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Construction is underway on two artificial turf fields at the future Gig Harbor Sports Complex, another step forward in a massive project to address the demand from youth sports for lit turf fields in Gig Harbor.

Phase 1A of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex will add two synthetic turf fields, field lighting and 100 parking stalls next to the existing Tom Taylor Family YMCA, according to the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties website and a 2021 press release.

A multi-year fundraising campaign for the project is nearing the finish line: Donations stood at $6.9 million Thursday, only about $100,000 short of the $7 million target, according to YMCA spokesperson Jyot Sandhu. That total includes about $1 million expected from the state capital budget, which awaits the governor’s signature by May 17, and $2.3 million from the city of Gig Harbor.

The YMCA is still asking for donations, and is offering inscribed bricks to recognize donors of $250, $500 and $1,000 amounts, according to the YMCA website.

The groundbreaking ceremony at the Tom Taylor YMCA was at 1 p.m. on May 2.

Sports fields funded with YMCA, city and state contributions

The minimum cost for the fields was originally estimated at $3.85 million, to be funded mostly by the YMCA except for a $350,000 grant from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, according to the original lease agreement between the city and YMCA signed in May 2021. An amended lease signed and approved by the city council in March of this year indicated that the estimated minimum cost had grown to $7 million, and the city committed to providing $2.3 million of that total.

$2 million of the city’s contributions would come from the Hospital Benefit Zone fund, the updated lease said.

City Clerk Josh Stecker wrote in an email Friday that the Hospital Benefit Zone fund is drawn from sales tax revenues, and “is not an additional sales tax levied by the city” but “a portion of the state’s 6.5% sales tax that is set aside specifically for this fund.”

Only capital projects within a certain distance of St. Anthony’s Hospital are eligible for money from the Hospital Benefit Zone fund, city Parks Manager Jennifer Haro wrote in an email Monday.

Asked via phone Friday about the city’s decision to help fund Phase 1A, Mayor Mary Barber said there were several factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Construction site of Phase 1A of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex, which will add two artificial turf fields, field lighting and 100 parking stalls next to the Tom Taylor YMCA, on Saturday, May 2, 2025 in Gig Harbor, Wash.

Construction site of Phase 1A of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex, which will add two artificial turf fields, field lighting and 100 parking stalls next to the Tom Taylor YMCA, on Saturday, May 2, 2025 in Gig Harbor, Wash.

The pandemic “changed fundraising,” Barber said. “We did need to pivot and make some adjustments, and the city believed so strongly in the project that we were willing to commit that funding.”

The fundraising campaign took longer than expected, pushing back the project timeline, The News Tribune reported.

The YMCA is scheduled to have the fields complete this December after the city extended the deadline by another year, according to Jessie Palmer, senior executive of financial development for the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties. Each field will be 360 feet by 210 feet, which allows them to accommodate sports including soccer, youth football, lacrosse and Little League baseball at the T-ball level, Palmer said in an interview on April 29.

Meeting demand for youth athletic fields

“These fields are not just an investment in our youth, but in our local economy too, with the potential to bring in future tournaments and visitors to support nearby businesses,” Barber said in a YMCA press release. “This public-private partnership that we initiated with the YMCA over a decade ago is a great example of how we can come together to create more places for kids to play, grow, and thrive.”

The YMCA press release noted that there are over 9,000 youth who participate in field sports in Gig Harbor and surrounding areas.

Children attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Phase 1A of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex on Saturday, May 2, 2025, in Gig Harbor, Wash.

Children attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Phase 1A of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex on Saturday, May 2, 2025, in Gig Harbor, Wash.

“Local sports groups have had to limit the number of participants and put kids on waitlists because there are not additional fields to accommodate the demand,” the release said. “The synthetic turf fields will also help ensure fewer cancellations due to poor weather or muddy or unsafe field conditions. Additionally, well-lit fields will keep events safely running year-round, even during dark winter hours.”

A timeline on the Gig Harbor Peninsula Youth Sports Coalition website tracking the community’s journey toward establishing the sports complex says that Gig Harbor has faced a lack of sports fields for decades. Several land acquisitions and many public meetings and open house events helped push the project forward, according to the timeline.

The fields will also allow the YMCA to offer more of its own programming, like summer day camp activities that they previously had to host in the parking lot with tents and roll-up artificial turf mats, according to Palmer.

YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties board members and executive staff members attended the groundbreaking event of Phase 1A of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex on Saturday, May 3, in Gig Harbor.

YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties board members and executive staff members attended the groundbreaking event of Phase 1A of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex on Saturday, May 3, in Gig Harbor.

The city of Gig Harbor donated the land for the two fields, after paying $3.5 million in 2017 to purchase it along with land to build an adjacent park, according to city Parks Manager Haro. The city council approved a master plan in 2018 directing the design, permitting and construction for the sports complex; and has committed a total of $10.5 million for the complex so far as a whole, according to the city website.

City park amenities nearly complete

A city newsletter on April 23 said that construction is set to finish in late May on another phase of the larger sports complex: a park next to the YMCA-operated turf fields. The city’s budget for that phase was $5.2 million in the 2023-2024 budget, per the city website.

Charlie Davis, CEO and president of YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties, addresses attendees of a groundbreaking event for Phase 1A of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex on Saturday, May 3, in Gig Harbor, Wash.

Charlie Davis, CEO and president of YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties, addresses attendees of a groundbreaking event for Phase 1A of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex on Saturday, May 3, in Gig Harbor, Wash.

Phase 1B will add a variety of recreational amenities to the sports complex, including a restrooms/concession building, picnic shelters, event lawn, bocce ball courts, pickleball courts and more parking, per the city website. It will also feature a ship play structure, Native American canoes on the playground and a performance stage and lawn, according to a measure recently reviewed by the city council to decide on a name.

After receiving 24 suggestions from the public, the city council landed on the name Doris Heritage Park, according to a city resolution on April 28. The name honors a Gig Harbor athlete who broke two world records and won dozens of national and world titles for distance running, including at the Olympics, according to her bio in the National Track & Field Hall of Fame. Doris Heritage attended Peninsula High School — at a time when girls weren’t allowed to run on the track — and finished her career as a running coach for four decades at Seattle Pacific University, the resolution says.

Phases 2 and 3 still in design stage

There’s also a second and third phase projected for the project, though no funding has been allocated yet for the design, permitting or construction of those phases, according to city Parks Manager Haro. She also wrote that the city doesn’t have any agreements in place to partner with other organizations on the phases.

The city paid $125,000 for a feasibility study of Phases 2 and 3. Estimated costs for those phases stand at $28 million, Haro wrote in her email. The city council approved that feasibility study from consultant BCRA in March 2024.

Phase 2 will convert the Peninsula Light Fields currently leased by Gig Harbor Little League to artificial turf, and Phase 3 will develop additional turf fields on undeveloped land south of the existing Tom Taylor YMCA, according to the city website.



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GTA Basketball crowned AAU world champions in first year

A group of third graders from Oklahoma just made history on the national stage. The boys of GTA Basketball, a youth team formed just one year ago, were crowned Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) World Champions after a standout performance in Orlando, Florida. With local roots, a growing program, and even support from Thunder star Jalen […]

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A group of third graders from Oklahoma just made history on the national stage. The boys of GTA Basketball, a youth team formed just one year ago, were crowned Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) World Champions after a standout performance in Orlando, Florida. With local roots, a growing program, and even support from Thunder star Jalen Williams, the team’s story has inspired families across the state.

In this Q&A, News 9 sat down with GTA’s coach Jeff Terrell, program director Rick Jones, and players to talk about how the team came together, what it took to win a world title, and where they go from here.

What is the AAU?

Jones: “So it’s like the highest level of rules and refereeing, and the way that the structure is of the organization. It’s kind of the pinnacle for youth sports.”

How long has your team been playing?

Jones: “So they’ve been, we started about a year ago, and Jeff and I actually coached each other, against each other with a couple of our kids, and we were looking for a good youth basketball organization, and we kind of struggled to find some. They were either ultra competitive and not structured or structured and not competitive. So my wife and I started a charity. Jeff came on to oversee all basketball stuff, and that’s kind of how we started a year ago.”

What were the world championships like?

Terrell: “So the world championships took place in Orlando, Florida, at Disney, and it’s been awesome. It’s been a long journey. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs. Our kids have been resilient through it all. A lot of kids in our program, this is a testament to all their hard work every week and through practices, and through games. We’re super excited about the future of our program.”

What is it like seeing the players celebrate like this?

Jones: “I think they weren’t necessarily supposed to win. We just started a year ago. We’re local kids. We’re not pulling from out of state and doing all that like a lot of the other teams that we competed against were. So the really cool thing was is they didn’t know they were supposed to win. They believed that they could, and because of that, they just continued to go through and persevere. They stayed incredibly calm through a lot of adversity there for nine and 10-year-old kids, which I think as parents and as coaches, we were all the most proud of. It’s incredible.”

What was it like to get the Thunder’s Jalen Williams’ support?

Jones: “Really a testament to him as an individual to have the Even where with all to know that they’re there and you know to take the time after he’s had a great season and a great Run for the last three years to think about nine or ten year old kids to send a message to them About winning a championship and bring it at home I know really resonated with these guys really well and just a amazing opportunity and we’re thankful for him.”

Where do you go now that you’ve won the World Championship?

Terrell: “We’re gonna try to go repeat. I love it, so we’ll work really hard next year. We have more kids who are interested in joining our program, which we’re super excited about. And, you know, we start, you know, at a development level and we work all the way up and we have a couple eighth grade or eighth-grade teams and a girls’ team that we’re starting. So we’re excited about the future of our program.”

What’s your message to kids who might want to sign up?

Jones: “Just reach out on social media. We offer all ability levels for all of them, and we don’t know, you know, at nine and 10. We don’t know what these kids are gonna end up being at 14 or 18. So let’s have fun. Let’s play. Let’s work hard. Let’s get better every day and continue to do great in school and see where it leads.”

What kind of life lessons do kids learn along the way?

Terrell: “We look through our program like with report cards and stuff like that. We didn’t have one kid who was under a B. Most of our kids, I would say 99.9% of them, were A’s or higher. So I mean, we’re super excited with them. We also want them to act the right way. So we make sure if a player on the other team falls down, we’re helping them up, and we’re doing all the little things. We want them to be good adults and good, you know, in the community. So they’re all great kids, and we’re super excited about that.”





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Tale of 3 A’s cities: Oakland left behind, Sacramento a temporary stop, Las Vegas awaits | National Sports

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Those chants of “sell the team” that rang from every corner of the Coliseum during the Athletics’ final seasons in Oakland are noticeably less obvious these days as the club plays the first of three scheduled years at a Triple-A ballpark in California’s capital region. Not that all the negative […]

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WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Those chants of “sell the team” that rang from every corner of the Coliseum during the Athletics’ final seasons in Oakland are noticeably less obvious these days as the club plays the first of three scheduled years at a Triple-A ballpark in California’s capital region.

Not that all the negative feelings have been cast aside. There is still plenty of ill will toward the team that moved some 90 miles north.

During a recent Braves-A’s series, two supporters showed up in “Forever Oakland” T-shirts, while another fan from Fresno arrived at Sutter Health Park wearing a “Rooted in Oakland” shirt.

It’s a drastically different scene from the A’s old Oakland home.

Fans staged “reverse boycott” protests where they packed the Coliseum, brought homemade signs begging the team to stay and loudly called for owner John Fisher to “SELL!” In Sacramento, there’s a pervading sense the A’s are a rental, not a long-term investment. As soon as 2028, they plan to move into a what has been valued as a $1.75 billion ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip. Construction began last month.

While many A’s fans moved on and want nothing to do with the team, some still drive long distances to games in Sacramento and try to make the best of the situation — a big league team in a small-time stadium.

“It’s a big difference walking (through the ballpark) in about five minutes instead of walking the Coliseum in like 20, 30 minutes,” said Francisco Almazan from Modesto.

It’s not a wholly comfortable setup for players and coaches. The A’s built a two-story clubhouse beyond left field that on the top floor includes a lounge, kitchen and offices for manager Mark Kotsay and his coaches. The players’ lockers are on the first level.

“Everybody is trying to make the best of it,” outfielder Lawrence Butler said. “I’m just thankful for them trying to make it up to big-league standard.”

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged while speaking at the All-Star Game that playing in a 10,000-seat ballpark isn’t perfect. He said the circumstances would be different if the A’s moved directly into a 33,000-capacity facility like the one underway in Las Vegas.

Union chief Tony Clark was less diplomatic, insisting players prefer to work in an actual big league ballpark.

“There’s still a little bit of hope that something may come to fruition before 2028 and what’s being described as the time where the new ballpark will be in place,” Clark said. “But we’ll have to see.”

A’s players know the situation: The plan is to play in America’s party capital less than three years from now, but that seemingly far-off timeline doesn’t consume their day-to-day baseball lives.

“I think this group is focused on what they need to be focused on,” Kotsay said. “They come to prepare every day. You walk through our locker room, there’s a consistent routine and consistent work ethic that goes on prior to them playing the game.”

Still, as much as they try to stay in the moment, the A’s are very much tied to their past, present and future with three far different cities.

Oakland is embracing the B’s, and the Coliseum has a new tenant

Some baseball fans in the A’s old market have shifted their interest to the Oakland Ballers. The “B’s” have been a huge hit at intimate Raimondi Park — capacity around 4,000 — complete with mascot Scrappy the Rally Possum and nostalgic nods to Oakland at every turn.

The B’s have provided a big lift for a city that watched the NBA’s Golden State Warriors move to San Francisco in 2019 and the NFL’s Raiders leave for Las Vegas the next year.

Last month, the Ballers unveiled a mural honoring late Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, who died in December at age 65.

The Oakland Roots soccer team now plays its home games at the Coliseum, where cricket has also become a popular choice given the dual-sport facility’s size.

Some longtime employees now work Roots games but many moved on or retired, unwilling to make the trek to Sacramento — though most weren’t invited.

Las Vegas prepares to welcome an MLB franchise

A formal groundbreaking on the new ballpark occurred June 23, with Fisher, Manfred and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo among those speaking at the festivities. There is a tight window for the venue to be ready by opening day in 2028.

The A’s hope to complete the project in 2027. They launched a construction cam so fans can track the progress, and without a doubt, the team will be under a microscope trying to meet its ambitious deadline.

Then the question becomes: Will Las Vegas embrace the A’s?

Las Vegas’ strong support for its first major professional team, the NHL’s Golden Knights, helped pave the way for what has become an explosion of sports in a city once shunned because of legalized sports betting. The Raiders draw large crowds, but many game days feel like neutral sites with opposing fans showing up by the thousands. The Aces became the first WNBA team to sell out an entire season — and did so twice.

Longtime A’s radio play-by-play man Ken Korach has a unique perspective on it. In his 30th season calling A’s games, Korach moved to the Henderson, Nevada, suburb in 1992 and has stayed put. He figured MLB might explore the market, either through relocation or expansion.

“There are a lot of conflicting emotions there,” Korach said. “I’ve always felt the Bay Area is a two-team market, and I’ve always felt that Vegas could support a major-league team.”

Rookie infielder Max Muncy, too, can already weigh in on the A’s current home and their future one. He has played 81 games in Las Vegas over the past two seasons, but began this season in Sacramento and returned to the big club before going on the 10-day injured list Tuesday after taking a pitch to his right hand.

“I had a great time in Las Vegas,” Muncy said. “Those fans are great. The atmosphere is great. It’s a great city. I enjoyed living there. I think it’s going to be a special place to play, as it is here. I really enjoyed my time there, and I think a lot of guys that played there will say the same thing.”

Being on the Strip would allow the A’s to attract tourists given the ballpark is walking distance for many visitors. That could be especially important for non-marquee, weeknight matchups in contrast to in-demand weekend series against big-market teams like the Yankees or Dodgers.

The club has begun trying to establish a foothold in the community. The A’s said they have contributed $1.5 million since 2023, including more than $400,000 this year, to nonprofits and other similar organizations that include every youth baseball and softball team. They have been involved in more than 30 events this year from youth sports to festivals to public watch parties with more planned through the end of 2025.

Sacramento is trying to enjoy the A’s while they’re still around

Robert Greenberg, an A’s fan who lives in Fresno, isn’t sure he will keep rooting for the green and gold if and when they move for good even if it’s an easier drive to Sacramento than to Oakland. He believes Fisher cut payroll and undermined the team to suppress attendance and facilitate its move.

“I guess he got what he wanted,” Greenberg said.

Ayad Bunni of San Mateo said he was a fan before hosting the “Locked on A’s” podcast. He considered not following the A’s and understands why many others no longer cheer them on, but said he didn’t fault the club for taking these steps.

“As an A’s fan and being from here, would I love for them to be in Oakland?” he said. “Absolutely, 100%.”

The A’s average 9,782 fans, and they and Tampa Bay — also playing in a Triple-A ballpark this season after Tropicana Field was damaged by a hurricane — are the only teams were fewer than 10,000 per game. The Athletics averaged 11,386 fans last season in the Coliseum, lowest in MLB.

Meanwhile, the players play on, and whether the process turns out to be one big sinking ship remains to be seen. It also could become a move that puts the organization on the trajectory to future success in the box office and on the field.

But the here and now gives the A’s plenty to think about, and All-Star designated hitter Brent Rooker acknowledged he and his teammates have faced adversity most other clubs haven’t encountered.

“Every challenge you face in this game or outside this game is going to mold you and build you into the person you’re going to ultimately become,” Rooker said. “So anything you can use to your advantage, whether it’s adversity, a challenge, a success, a failure, all those things can be made into positives.”


AP Baseball Writer Janie McCauley in Oakland contributed to this report.


AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB



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There’s a link between sports and lower teen suicide risk

Share this Article You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. A new US analysis spanning more than 800,000 students finds that middle and high school students who participate in sports are significantly less likely to report suicidal thoughts or behaviors—even as youth suicide rates have climbed nationwide. Yet sports […]

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A new US analysis spanning more than 800,000 students finds that middle and high school students who participate in sports are significantly less likely to report suicidal thoughts or behaviors—even as youth suicide rates have climbed nationwide.

Yet sports participation has declined for a number of reasons, potentially limiting access to this important protective factor.

The analysis appears in the Annals of Epidemiology.

Massy Mutumba, an assistant professor at the School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis, led the study.

“Historically, organized sports have been an important protective factor against suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and they still are,” Mutumba says.

“But fewer students are participating, especially in middle school, and we need to find new ways to expand access and integrate mental health into sports settings.”

Suicide is rising at an alarming rate among children and teens in the US, creating a serious public health crisis. It is the second-leading cause of death for kids ages 10-14 and the third for youth ages 15-24.

In this study, researchers analyzed Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from 2007 to 2023 drawing on responses from 326,085 middle schoolers and 508,737 high schoolers across 41 states. Among middle school students, 20.5% had seriously considered suicide, 13.5% had made a plan and 8.6% had attempted it. Among high school students, 16.6% reported suicidal thoughts in the past year, 13.5% had made a plan and 9.2% had attempted suicide.

As part of the analysis, researchers explored the link between suicide risk and past-year participation in organized sports—a protective factor that could be leveraged more broadly.

Key findings

  • Suicide risk (rates of suicide ideation, planning and attempts) increased sharply among youth between 2007 and 2023.
  • Sports participation dropped from 57.4% of high school students in 2019 to 49.1% in 2021 and has remained consistently lower than before the pandemic.
  • This decline was exacerbated by increasing costs (which disproportionately affect students from low-income households), the COVID-19 pandemic and growing psychosocial challenges. These challenges—including depression, generalized and social anxiety, and body image issues—often emerge around puberty and may prevent students from participating in organized sports.
  • For high schoolers, the protective link between sports and mental health remained strong both before and after the pandemic.
  • Among middle schoolers, the link between sports participation and reduced suicide risk was slightly weaker in 2023 than before the pandemic—a pattern that may reflect developmental differences. Psychosocial challenges tend to intensify with age, which could explain why this association is stronger in high school students, Mutumba notes.

The study is among the first to track these trends before, during and after the pandemic across nationally representative samples. Additionally, the study gives careful focus to middle schoolers. Despite rising suicide rates among younger kids, most large-scale studies have focused on older teens, leaving a major gap in research and prevention efforts, Mutumba says. Suicide is still widely viewed as a concern primarily for older teens.

Sports participation has numerous physical and mental health benefits, such as reduced depressive and anxiety symptoms, lower stress, enhanced general well-being and improved self-esteem, the researchers assert.

The findings underscore sports as an accessible, scalable, and sustainable public health strategy for suicide prevention, but indicate that taking full advantage of the power of sports may require new approaches.

The authors call for greater investment in equitable access to sports opportunities—especially in communities where risk is highest. Adolescents in marginalized communities particularly have elevated odds of suicidal behavior and reduced access to mental health services. To help close these gaps, the report outlines concrete strategies such as subsidizing or fully covering fees for school and community-based programs, investing in local facilities (green spaces, basketball courts, and baseball fields) and implementing sliding-scale fee models. These efforts are particularly important in middle school, when early engagement in sports can build lasting habits and offer critical mental health protection.

The authors also advocate for incorporating evidence-based mental health programs into organized sports programs. This aligns with Mutumba’s ongoing efforts to develop scalable, community-embedded strategies that integrate mental health support into systems that serve adolescents.

“Sports offer more than physical activity,” Mutumba says. “They create structure, social connection, and a sense of belonging that can help buffer the intense pressures that adolescents face today.”

Mutumba completed the research while at the University of Michigan. Additional coauthors are from the University of Michigan.

Source: Washington University in St. Louis



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Talkin’ Basketball: Exercise Turns to Therapy for Homeless Youth

Newswise — At 9:45 a.m. on a rapidly warming June day in East Hollywood, Dr. Mo is on the blacktop courts of Lemon Grove Recreation Center cooking these young fellas good. Why this 45-year-old clinical psychologist is playing basketball on a Wednesday morning with five other guys who have yet to cross 30 is some […]

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Newswise — At 9:45 a.m. on a rapidly warming June day in East Hollywood, Dr. Mo is on the blacktop courts of Lemon Grove Recreation Center cooking these young fellas good. Why this 45-year-old clinical psychologist is playing basketball on a Wednesday morning with five other guys who have yet to cross 30 is some kind of story, but it will have to wait till the doctor has finished the lesson he’s supplying out here free of charge.

One-on-one at the edge of the free throw line, he gives his defender a herky-jerky move that’s as old school as a paper check, bursts by him with a tight right-hand dribble, and then scoops in a shot off the backboard that has both sides whooping. “Doc is in his bag!” a teammate exclaims.

That he is. This is where Dr. Mo does some of his best work. Each week at this park and three others like it across East and South L.A., Moises “Dr. Mo” Rodriguez, PhD, runs the therapeutic exercise program he created in his role as Mental Health Director of the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Homeless Adolescent Wellness Clinic, a support group for young people who are experiencing some level of homelessness or housing insecurity.


The Homeless Adolescent Wellness Clinic is a component of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.


Consider the basketball court an outdoor wing of Dr. Mo’s practice. It’s suited for the population he is serving, which he says is more easily reached through a looser, informal approach that doesn’t start with a lengthy set of intake questions or heavy explorations of past traumas. Since the program began in 2008, hundreds of young men—and many women, too—have participated. A game of pickup basketball offers Dr. Mo a side entrance into their personal histories.

“I’m not probing,” Dr. Mo says, noting how that might be resisted. “They’d look at me like, ‘This person’s going to ask about all my intimate moments and whether I’ve been abused or whether I’ve been assaulted, or whether I’ve seen stuff happen with my parents.’ You have to be receptive to that kind of conversation, and not everybody’s there. It’s just too much. This helps people come around on their own terms.”

Putting their nervous system at ease

Dr. Mo began seeing the benefits of a less structured style of therapy in the course of his training at the NYU Child Study Center. While performing home visits, he would take his young patients on walks around the neighborhood. He repeated the practice during his internship at a facility in Santa Monica.

“I saw that their comfort level increased and they became more balanced, grounded, and open and warm,” he says.

 

Though it may seem unsystematic, his approach was rooted in scientific theory and neurobiology—though he didn’t find that out until after he was already applying it.

“I didn’t go theory first,” Dr. Mo says. “It was more of, ‘This seems like a cool outlet for connecting with people.’  backed into finding all kinds of stuff that was evidentiary in nature about why it’s so beneficial.”

He discovered the Neurosequential Model, which broke down the science behind what he had arrived at intuitively. The model explains that the brains of individuals who have experienced trauma and are focused entirely on finding their next meal or a safe place to stay are often operating in the limbic system—survival mode—and don’t have the luxury of using the brain’s frontal lobe, which performs our more advanced executive functioning.

By providing a physical outlet to these patients—he also brings boxing gloves and pads, a jump rope, a deck of cards, a chess board, and other activities—Dr. Mo lightens their immediate struggle and frees them to use their higher faculties.

“I put their nervous system a bit more at ease,” he says. “Then you can access the other parts of the brain, and then you might open up. You might just start sharing. Giving that person an outlet helps us build a relationship.”

A bond between doctor and patient

Two of the four recreation centers where Dr. Mo and his group gather are located across from homeless shelters, so those who wish to join just have to walk on over. At the other two sites, they’re driven in.

Albert comes by bus. He goes by AMoney—big A, big M, no space, per his instructions. A longtime patient of Dr. Mo’s, he’s a regular at Lemon Grove. “I’ll always keep coming,” he says.

AMoney became homeless when he was 18, the same age he met Dr. Mo. He turns 26 in July. He’s cheerful and optimistic, against expectations. He takes a bus from Carson to join Dr. Mo twice a week for basketball, bearing witness to the effects of therapeutic exercise.

“It has really impacted me mentally,” AMoney says. “I don’t think about anything but basketball, and it makes me feel good. A couple of hours. That’s all I need.”

He says Dr. Mo helped turn his life around, giving him resources and leads that have led to employment, educational, and housing opportunities. He’s now out of the shelter and in a transitional housing facility, which hopefully will next lead to a fixed residence. This is a place of peace. As long as you can find that, you can get whatever you need to get done. You can manifest your life.

In September, he starts at West Los Angeles College, again with a boost from Dr. Mo, who clued him into a local work-study program called Angeleno Corps.

“It’s all due to Doc,” AMoney says. “I got my student ID and I’m in the student portal.”

He’s enrolled in a course in game design. “So pray for me,” he says with a small laugh. “That’s always been my goal—to be a video game programmer. I’m good at computers.”

As AMoney looks on, Dr. Mo sinks another shot. “Doc’s still got it, surprisingly. He has it. He’s cookin’ everybody, man. He can’t be stopped!” He considers what Dr. Mo has meant to him. “Without Doc, I don’t know where I’d be right now. Me and him got a bond. He made that bond. I never had a person who’s so consistent.”

The word seems to have revealed something to him. It is perfectly chosen. “That’s what I’m saying—consistency. I don’t have a lot of people like that. He gives you a toothbrush, toothpaste. He helps me out with hygiene! Nobody does that.”

He explains the effect of the basketball outings in a way that bears out the neurological benefit Dr. Mo described. They free up a part of his brain that the daily striving to survive cuts him off from.

“I got a lot on my plate,” he says. “This is a place of peace. As long as you can find that, you can get whatever you need to get done. You can manifest your life.”

‘Micro-moments’ that lead to breakthroughs

For all of his 17 years at CHLA, Dr. Mo has run the therapeutic exercise program. Patients cycle through. Some come once, others repeatedly. He gains their trust because they share “a similar flavor dynamic,” he says.

“I’m not pretending to be something. I’m a psychologist providing a service, but I’m also just another dude who likes to play basketball. That’s where that shorthand, that cultural connection, comes in. These are mostly young Black and Latino men. We get along a certain way that builds community and camaraderie. What it provides is a respect for accessing more privileged information.”

Just as these sessions don’t begin with a traditional intake, they don’t end with a dramatic self-awakening or an emotional outpouring. Advances are made in smaller, practical sizes.

“I’ll have these little micro-moments with someone who got to the park before anybody else showed up,” Dr. Mo says. “We have time to shoot around and chat, and life stuff comes out. ‘How’s work going?’ ‘Do you know a place where I can get a job interview?’ ‘Yeah, I know a place.’ ‘Can you help me with housing?’ ‘Yeah, I can help you with that.’ We might chat for seven minutes, but it’s a valuable seven minutes.”

Occasionally those conversations are followed up in private for those who wish to share something away from basketball.

“It’s a starting point. ‘Do you have some time afterward? I wanted to ask you something. Maybe we can have a phone call later.’ But some people are very straightforward. ‘No, no, I don’t need all that. I just want to play ball.’ And some take what they need and then you’re just someone along their way, someone who contributed along their path, hopefully something positive to their life.”





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Pete Buttigieg weighs in on ‘fairness’ of transgender kids playing girls’ sports

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg offered one of the most carefully worded responses yet to the debate over transgender youth participation in sports on Monday morning in an NPR interview. “The approach starts with compassion,” Buttigieg, who is gay, told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep. “Compassion for transgender people, compassion for families, especially of young […]

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Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg offered one of the most carefully worded responses yet to the debate over transgender youth participation in sports on Monday morning in an NPR interview.

“The approach starts with compassion,” Buttigieg, who is gay, told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep. “Compassion for transgender people, compassion for families, especially of young people who are going through this, and also empathy for people who are not sure what all of this means for them.”

Asked whether a parent concerned about their child facing a trans kid in girls’ sports “has a case,” Buttigieg said, “Sure.” But he rejected blanket policies like the federal bans being enacted by the Trump administration, saying, “These decisions should be in the hands of sports leagues and school boards and not politicians, least of all politicians in Washington trying to use this as a political pawn.”

Buttigieg’s remarks came days after Rahm Emanuel, former President Joe Biden’s ambassador to Japan, former mayor of Chicago, and a potential 2028 presidential candidate, told Megyn Kelly that “a man can’t become a woman,” a comment that directly contradicted party orthodoxy and sparked fresh divisions over how Democrats should approach transgender rights.

“I think most reasonable people would recognize that there are serious fairness issues if you just treat this as not mattering when a trans athlete wants to compete in women’s sports,” Buttigieg told NPR.

The political stakes are high. A June 2025 Gallup poll found that 69 percent of U.S. adults believe trans athletes should only be allowed to play on teams matching their gender assigned at birth, including 91 percent of Republicans, 66 percent of independents, and 45 percent of Democrats. Support for transgender athletes’ inclusion has declined steadily since Gallup first asked the question in 2021.

Since returning to the Oval Office in January, President Donald Trump has signed executive orders eliminating federal recognition of gender identity, banning trans military service, restricting access to gender-affirming care, and prohibiting transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams.

The United States Supreme Court will weigh in on the legalities of banning transgender people from sports by next summer. The court has agreed to hear two cases involving transgender athletes next term, which begins in October.

LGBTQ+ rights groups have warned that such bans are not only discriminatory but also dangerous. A July 2025 fact sheet from GLAAD noted that fewer than 10 transgender student-athletes are competing among the NCAA’s 510,000 athletes. It also pointed to documented cases of cisgender girls being falsely accused of being trans, harassed, or subjected to invasive screening, consequences not limited to trans youth.

In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat, received harsh backlash for telling far-right operative Charlie Kirk that trans kids’ participation in sports is “deeply unfair.”

Pressed on Trump’s repeated slogan, “No boys in girls’ sports,” Buttigieg declined to echo the rhetoric. “I think that chess is different from weightlifting, and weightlifting is different from volleyball, and middle school is different from the Olympics,” he said. “So that’s exactly why I think that we shouldn’t be grandstanding on this as politicians. We should be empowering communities, organizations, and schools to make the right decisions.”

Watch Pete Buttigieg discuss trans athletes on NPR’s Morning Edition below.

– YouTube youtu.be

This article originally appeared on Advocate: Pete Buttigieg weighs in on ‘fairness’ of transgender kids playing girls’ sports

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Engler Foundation $2M donation unlocks Rockrose Sports Park funding

A $2 million gift from the Paul F. and Virginia J. Engler Foundation has propelled Kids, Incorporated’s Rockrose Sports Park campaign across a critical fundraising threshold — unlocking a $1.5 million challenge grant from the High Plains Christian Ministries Foundation and bringing the project closer to breaking ground. The donation, announced Monday, July 28, will […]

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A $2 million gift from the Paul F. and Virginia J. Engler Foundation has propelled Kids, Incorporated’s Rockrose Sports Park campaign across a critical fundraising threshold — unlocking a $1.5 million challenge grant from the High Plains Christian Ministries Foundation and bringing the project closer to breaking ground.

The donation, announced Monday, July 28, will support the park’s multi-purpose venue, which will now bear the Engler Foundation’s name. The facility will serve thousands of young athletes across the Texas Panhandle and is expected to transform Amarillo into a destination for regional sports competitions.

“This gift is transformative — not just professionally, but personally,” said Jimmy R. Lackey, president and CEO of Kids, Inc. “Mr. Engler and my father were friends in Dumas. To see his family invest in the next generation through this project — and in this community — means the world to me.”

The Engler Foundation’s donation pushed the campaign total to over $26.2 million, surpassing the $24 million benchmark needed to activate a $1.5 million grant from the High Plains Christian Ministries Foundation. The combined $3.5 million boost marks the largest single leap in fundraising since the campaign launched.

Angela Lust, executive director of the Engler Foundation, said the decision to support the project was rooted in its broad and lasting community impact.

“This was an easy decision,” Lust said. “This complex isn’t just for Amarillo — it will serve the greater Panhandle. It aligns perfectly with our mission to support education, entrepreneurship, and basic human needs.”

A legacy fulfilled

For Sara Cady, a board member of the Engler Foundation and a daughter of Paul Engler, the gift represents a deeply personal moment.

“The Texas Panhandle was very important to my father,” Cady said. “To make this donation so soon after his passing — and to invest in something that will benefit generations of children and families — is incredibly meaningful to our family.”

She recalled that her father often said his greatest legacy wouldn’t be found in business holdings or markets, but “in the lives of young people empowered to lead, create, and serve.”

“This gift honors that legacy,” she said. “It honors him.”

From vision to reality

Construction plans for Rockrose Sports Park are quickly taking shape. The Amarillo City Council approved the final annexation of the property on June 25. The site plan has been submitted for review, and SW General Contractors is preparing to open the bidding process in early August. If all goes to plan, dirt could begin moving by late September or early October.

“When people actually see equipment on the ground, the perception changes,” Lackey said. “It’s not just a concept anymore — it’s real.”

The complex will span 36 acres and include sports turf fields for soccer, football, baseball and softball. Plans also call for concessions, restrooms, shade structures and more than 1,600 parking spaces.

“It’s about accessibility,” Lackey said. “Parents won’t have to shuttle between three different locations. This is a facility built for families — for the kids who can’t afford club sports, who just want to find out if they even like soccer or football.”

A proven model

Kids, Inc. has already seen the impact of similar facilities in towns like Hereford and Dalhart in Texas, and Elk City, Oklahoma, where the organization manages youth sports complexes.

Hereford Mayor Cathy Bunch said the city’s new baseball and softball complex, which opened earlier this year, has already boosted local tax revenue and filled hotels during tournaments.

“We saw a $25,000 spike in sales tax after just one tournament,” Bunch said. “Our hotels were full. Our restaurants were packed. We had out-of-town visitors everywhere you looked.”

Bunch said the momentum is growing, and she believes Amarillo will experience a similar impact.

“This kind of investment transforms communities,” she said. “Hereford deserved it. So does Amarillo.”

Looking ahead

While about $4 million remains to be raised, the latest gifts have dramatically shifted momentum. Lackey said the organization is now confident it can close the gap and begin construction.

“This gift was the spark we needed,” he said. “It’s a message to our donors, to our city and to our kids: This is happening. And it’s happening because people believe in the power of community.”

To learn more or contribute to the campaign, visit www.kidsinc.org.



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