CARE coaches to host pair of all-star games

The action takes place at Windsor High and the Shehan Center in Bridgeport in April

The Coaches Advancement for Racial Equity Committee is growing, between 25-30 coaches having joined the organization since it formed last fall, according to Windsor boys basketball coach Ken Smith.

Their ultimate agenda is to be able to have the opportunity to coach their players in the off-season, for the CIAC to either lift or expand the coaching limitations that are currently in place. They want to fill a void for their players, especially with the limited basketball activity players have had for the past year.

There has also been a void for players to gain college exposure in an allstar game format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The coaches from CARE are trying to fill that void with a pair of CARE Senior AllStar Games next weekend.

One will be held at Windsor High on April 9 at 6:30 p.m., the other at the Shehan Center in Bridgeport on April 10 at 6 p.m.

“We wanted to do something for the kids and that is what we are doing,” Smith said. “We want to do more for kids.”

Two mainstay all-star games, the Connecticut High School Coaches Association and the JCC Schoolboy/School Girls Classic, are not holding its games for the second consecutive year due to the pandemic.

“We are using these games as an avenue for more things to come. We are exercising the rules of health, the rules of competition and try to have a safe environment,” said Bridgeport

Central coach Sedrick Veazey, who is running the Shehan Center game. “We are playing the games under certain (COVID) restrictions. But the kids need to play.”

Smith said there is a good chance there will be a girls all-star game to precede the boys game in Windsor.

The seniors scheduled to play at the Sheehan Center are as follows: Shawn Allen (Harding), Isaiah Sullivan (Bassick), Vincent Martinez (Maloney), Ben Pennella (Westhill), Dereyk Grant (Wilbur Cross), Javon Taylor (Wilbur Cross), Jaden Palmer (Bridgeport Central), Kevin Vidmar (Danbury), Malcolm Duncanson (West Haven), Eli Blackwell (West Haven), James Rawlins (Notre Dame-West Haven), Ben Carroll (Notre Dame-West Haven), Kyle Lombardi (Holy Cross), Justin Parker (Wilby), Will Barton (St. Paul), Tre Duncan (Sacred Heart) and Mekhi Tolar (Middletown).

The seniors scheduled to participate at Windsor are as follows: Elijah Botnick (Northwest Catholic), Juwan Thompson (Bloomfield), Jarrell Petteway (Windsor), Quallis Williams (Windsor), Ty Calloway (Enfield), Ian Calabrese (Simsbury), Matt Walker (Hall), Matt Houde (East Catholic), Luke Strole (East Catholic), Jack Hall (Avon), Chris Hough (Capital Prep), Jalen Gordon (Capital Prep), Justice Carter (New Britain), Marshall Gada (East Lyme) and Jabari Jones (Ledyard).

No spectators will be allowed at the game, but a livestream will be available, to be announced.

“We are trying to promote Connecticut high school basketball,” Smith said.