Providing hope through hoops
Coach nurtures, encourages players in between drills at Albany community center
His ringtones sometimes start to chime at 9 a.m. Jamil Hood Sr. often fields calls from frustrated parents seeking help getting through to their uncooperative teenagers.
Other times, it’ll start at 2 a.m., notifying Hood of a shooting, asking him to come to the hospital.
Whatever the reason, whatever the time, Hood always has his phone on, and he always picks up.
“I have to be there,” Hood said. “It’s a must. It takes a village.”
Building and showing up for community is what Hood said drives his work and purpose. And through Hood’s House of Hoops, a nonprofit community center he founded in West Hill, he’s able to fulfill that purpose — and fill a void of resources and opportunities in the neighborhood.
The building is unassuming on the outside: just another row house on First Street in the city, appearing to be a residential home. Hood often has the door propped open with a speaker that blasts old school music such as Earth, Wind & Fire or Marvin Gaye. But walk inside and up the stairway — decorated with wall-length photos of Black icons such as Malcolm X, Usain Bolt, Serena Williams and the Obamas — and a large basketball court with bleachers and two-story-high ceilings reveals itself.
After 10 months of work and financial and equipment donations, the gym came together in August. The entire building, which is owned by the Frank Chapman Memorial Institute, is still a
work in progress, but so far offers a weight room, batting area, computer room and more.
Hood has been intentional about the design and decoration throughout the building, wanting to convey inspirational messages of success, perseverance and community at every turn.
“This will hit you with the cultural effect,” Hood said as he walked up the stairs on a recent day toward the gymnasium. “I had a vision of individuals I wanted families and children from all over to see when they first come in the door — you want to be able to visualize the culture.”
Wrapped around the gymnasium walls is a strip of back-toback handprints, signifying the importance of community. Above the handprints is a mural of downtown Albany’s skyline — which Hood plans to expand to include skylines spanning from Manhattan to Accra, Ghana.
As a kid, Hood wasn’t able to travel beyond the Arbor Hill neighborhood he grew up in. But, he wonders, if he had seen those skylines, maybe he would have experienced more places outside of Albany. Maybe the kids he coaches basketball will get to see what he hasn’t.
Hood, who is 50, started coaching basketball in his early 20s through various programs such as the Midnight Basketball League. After getting his college degree, he coached at New Covenant Charter School and then went on to join Green Tech Charter High School for Boys as a basketball coach and dean of students. Three years ago, however, Hood was let go due to budget cuts — and that’s when the opportunity of Hood’s House of Hoops presented itself to him. The building was inherited by Norma Chapman, the grandmother of his children, and Hood began fixing it up to accommodate his vision. Today, he and his son, state champion basketball player Jamil Hood Jr., work together to bring numerous resources to a community that is too often overlooked.
On a recent Thursday, the sound of squeaking sneakers and the beat of dribbling basketballs drifted through the air.
“Quick, quick, quick!” Hood bellowed at the group of boys practicing ball. “Dominate!”
The boys were all ages, hailing from Albany to Bethlehem to Watervliet. Sometimes, Hood even gets players from as far away as Buffalo.
One of the boys fumbled with a ball that was passed to him, dropping it and scrambling to pick it back up.
“That’s OK, don’t be embarrassed,” Hood said to him, then coached him through catching passes. “Step into it. Spread your feet out. Balance.”
He’s firm with the boys, making them redo drills they get wrong, sometimes followed by five pushups. But Hood is also encouraging and nurturing, making sure to get the kids out of their heads and focused on the game.
For Sirena Cordova and her 11-year-old son Beau, Coach Hood and House of Hoops have been a gift. Beau has lost significant weight since he started training with Hood in February (Cordova has gotten into great shape herself through Hood’s women’s workouts), and has improved his basketball skills tremendously.
More importantly, though, Beau has become confident and positive.
“My son now compared to where he was in February, and even me myself, we’ve just shifted because we’re in a good environment where people personally care about us and they want to see us do well,” Cordova said.
Between drills, Hood pulls the kids into a huddle to give them life lessons, urging them to help out more at home, be respectful and stay focused in school. He warned one of his college-bound players to not take a break from school, because “one year turns into two and so on.” He’s taken kids on college tours himself, encouraging them to pursue more education.
Sometimes, he shares with them stories about the kids who ask Hood if they can shoot hoops for a little, seeking a reprieve from the streets. Every week, without fail, one or two of them hang back, asking Hood for help, a job, or even a meal.
“When you see these guys in the streets, it’s a struggle for some of them to get out,” Hood told his players, warning them not to fall down the same path.
Hood said he tries to support those kids. He doesn’t judge them, because he knows their situations are tough. He was in that life himself when he was young, and he considers himself lucky to have gotten out, thanks to opportunities and role models that presented themselves to him. But not everybody has that.
For Hood, he hopes that his community center can be the same saving grace for those kids as the ones he found refuge in when he was young.
“We just need to keep programs going,” he said. “We need for them to come off those dangerous streets, inside of a healthy environment.”
Above one of the basketball hoops in the gym, Hood printed in big block letters, “It was all a dream” — lyrics from one of rapper Notorious B.I.G.’S songs. It reminds Hood of his own life. He made it out of the streets, and always dreamed of the life he has today; having a space to call his own, having the opportunity to give back, to mentor.
“I’m always thinking in my heart, my mind, ‘How can I help?’” Hood said. “‘What can I do to make a difference in my community?’”