Melissa Peng (left) and Devon Roeper stand between two Ugandan players.
Courtesy photo
They have since formed a number of basketball teams, divided by age, skill and gender that compete in a league similar to AAU with other community teams in Uganda.
The American volunteers returned for two weeks in August and brought with them NYU point guard Melissa Peng and former Manhattan College player Kevin Laue, the first Division I one-handed ball player, among others. They came with 15 clinic-ready duffel bags filled with uniforms, shoes, basketballs, equipment and training aids like cones, jump ropes and speed ladders.
"The entire boys team has jerseys and shoes now," said Devon Roeper. They're working on outfitting the newly formed girls team, which was named the Javon Lady Phenoms after James and Devon. About 150 Phenom uniforms were donated by adidas, which holds the invitation-only Phenom basketball camps in the United States. These jerseys are distributed judiciously to those Ugandan players who have earned them. "It's a very, very coveted thing to have," said Dean Roeper.
Roeper works with players of all ages.
Courtesy photo
Basketball has brought passion and purpose, particularly to the generation of 20-somethings who were robbed of their youth, missing out on years of education as a result of a 20-plus year war with the Lord's Resistance Army. Some were required to be child soldiers at the hands of the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony. The war ravaged northern Uganda, upsetting the fabric of the country, and has spread to other parts of Africa.
Morpheus, 22, is one of the players on the Phenom boys team. He used to be involved with drugs. He has never missed a practice, never missed a game. And through this team and daily basketball, he changed his life.
"He has something else to focus on and something else to work toward," said Devon Roeper.
"The young man, who was into some bad stuff, is now the heart and soul of the Phenom team, which has become his family," said Dean Roeper. "This is what he lives for, being part of this group of guys."
Henry is another member of the Phenom team. He has leukemia and has to travel hundreds of miles to Kenya for treatment. The Phenom team has become his family and support system. His doctors have benched him for now, but he still attends regular practices.
"Before this basketball team he didn't really have that much support behind him in his struggle with leukemia," said Devon Roeper.
The Ugandan girls, whose opportunities to participate in sports are limited, watched with interest as Roeper and Peng would compete against the guys.
"Culturally, they're not as empowered as men," said Dean Roeper. "To see these women (Roeper and Peng) hang with these very studly young men on the basketball court gives them all a different image of what a female athlete can be. I think it changes their view of themselves and it changes the view of the community of girls and young women, and what they can accomplish."
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