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Fraternity uses basketball to keep kids busy during summer

For the past 20 years, Kappa Alpha Psi have provided youth with an opportunity to stay out of the streets with its summer basketball league. Co-directors Bruce Wharton and Tom Vanlandingham put this league together along with their friends with the idea of something that is both enjoyable and free to keep children off of the streets with school out. "My fraternity brothers and I were just sitting around one day and realized that there was no summer basketball league," Wharton said. "I know kids love to play all year around, and it was kind of weird knowing that kids didn't have an opportunity to do so. We started the league on the west side of town to show kids something new and positive." There are four games a night, which usually run from 6-9:30 p.m. The league consists of high school teams from the area such as Snow Hill, Pocomoke and Parkside; other teams from different states play in the league as well. While the games are fun and give the youth something to do, at the same time the main focus is to teach its players something other than just basketball. "Most of the kids that come out and play come from places where there aren't any positive things going on," Vanlandingham said. "We just want to show our kids something positive and surround them with positive people." Besides the enjoyment in playing in the games, kids can look forward to many seminars that send out messages about everyday life. "Every year we always had different people come in and talk to our guys, but this year we have more people involved," Wharton said. "This being our 20th year, we will have law enforcement come talk to our guys about gangs and that lifestyle. We will also have people come in and talk about good eating habits. We don't want our league to be just about basketball, we want it to be something more as we try to instill things in our guys that will benefit them in their daily lives." -- delmarvanow.com