‘The power of sports can change the world’
From Rwanda to Boston, Shooting Touch nonprofit empowers women, girls of color through basketball
Ashley Walenta didn’t need to say a word in the Zoom call to be moved by the conversation.
Less than a month had passed since George Floyd died at the knee of a police officer back in late May, igniting an outcry for racial justice in every nook and cranny of the country. Boston proved no exception, and executive decision-makers of Shooting Touch — a nonprofit focused on empowering and providing opportunity to women and girls of color through basketball — knew they needed to do something for their members.
One week saw a mental health session in which the girls could express their feelings with each other. Another week saw a few of them speak with a couple of Boston Police officers to share perspectives. And then there was “An Evening of Active Listening,” in which the 100-plus people involved logged on to a Zoom call to hear several brutally honest accounts of how racism has affected the speakers’ lives.
Walenta, the nonprofit’s director of operations, was in awe.
“We’re the type of organization that we want to hear from that community, and what do they need, and what can we do, and what can we provide. That’s exactly what we do in Boston,” Walenta said. “It allowed the girls who participated to feel like their voices have been heard … It provided a deeper understanding of who we’re serving and why the work that we’re doing is so important.”
At its foundation, Shooting Touch is dedicated to tackling health issues while using basketball as a tool to bring together women and girls of color. The goal is to bridge opportunity gaps in terms of race, gender, health and equity.
That mission started in 2011, in which after four years of developing from local skills camps to sponsoring short-term fellowships focused on promoting public health within communities across the world, co-founders Lindsey Kittredge and Justin Kittredge were recommended by Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca to consider establishing a program in Rwanda.
Rwanda, a country still feeling the aftermath of the genocide in 1994 that led to an estimated 5 million deaths through 2003, seemed like a perfect fit. The two of them knew they wanted to leave a long-term impact, so they tackled the project as hard as they could by building seven basketball courts and providing regular programming.
Volunteers learned how little basketball experience these women had, but that isn’t the point. The nonprofit is more focused on the 7,000 people it provides health insurance for in the country, the HIV screenings it funds, the health and wellness lessons taught to more than 3,000 women and children across multiple communities, and the opportunities of growth it provides with its education and time on the basketball court.
“We’ve been able to shift the gender norms in these communities … it’s changed their lives,” said Lindsey Kittredge, who also serves as executive director. “They’re terrible (at basketball). A lot of them are terrible. But they love it, and you’d think you’re winning an NBA championship if somebody makes a bucket. It’s pretty incredible, and we’ve been able to educate their husbands that this is healthier for them.”
Stories of the impact made in Rwanda rapidly garnered attention, with the nonprofit building support from many prominent figures. ESPN senior writer Jackie MacMullan, a member of the nonprofit’s board for more than a decade, detailed Shooting Touch extensively for ESPNW in 2017.
Executives took a deep look at Boston along the way and realized just how much of an impact they could make close to home, too. In 2016, they started to do just that.
After a long process of identifying the needs within the community, Shooting Touch discovered how little involvement local young girls of color had on the basketball court.
AAU basketball provides great opportunities, but Shooting Touch identified that many families can’t afford it. The ASA Wildcats, one of the most established AAU girls’ basketball programs in the region, cost $425 in 2019.
That’s why Shooting Touch has worked to build its own basketball program. Serving about 200 girls of color per year and about 60 in the AAU The Right Way program, the nonprofit is dedicated to not only providing organized basketball training between grades 4-12, but also similar opportunities provided in Rwanda.
Brittany Gaetano, the former head coach of Colby College, left her prominent role to dedicate herself toward building up Shooting Touch’s domestic program. The girls in it get to see the path toward getting into college. They meet experts across many different professions, and participate in an enrichment program that meets weekly to focus on health and wellness.
Those with little basketball experience develop fundamentals in the Shooting Touch University program. Those ready for tournaments can play for one of the teams the nonprofit has developed. Walenta and other executives work to get all the funding they need from fundraisers and grants, so they don’t turn anyone away. It’s all free.
“We have never turned anybody away and we don’t plan on ever turning anybody away … Our main goal is to provide access to as many girls in the city as we can,” Walenta said. “To be able to provide the opportunity for anyone else to play basketball — whether it’s women in Rwanda who are playing in skirts and no shoes, or a girl in Boston who wouldn’t have access because they wouldn’t be able to afford AAU — just to be able to provide that access to individuals, that to me, I couldn’t have made a better job for myself.”
“Everyone always says the power of sports can change the world, and we really believe and have lived that truth,” Kittredge added.
In 2019, Celtics minority owner Paul Edgerly and his wife, Sandra, hosted Shooting Touch’s annual gala, in which prominent figures attend to help raise between $350,000-$400,000 — about half of the yearly budget. 2020 wasn’t able to provide that opportunity due to the pandemic.
But sure enough, Kittredge, Walenta and the other full-time staff got creative to raise the money they need for full operations in Boston and the communities of Rwanda. These opportunities they provide certainly aren’t cheap. But for this kind of access for women and girls of color, it’s well worth it.
For more information on Shooting Touch, go to www.shootingtouch.com.