Wa'Gwan! Manners and respect... I'm Verse Mega, a Jamaican born, Philly bred organizer, entertainer and basketball lifer! I've been working with P.H.A.S.E. 1 Academy (Jamaica's first ever official traveling AAU Basketball team) for a couple years now helping to raise money to support their travel and expenses.

It's a great cause, giving very deserving young athletes in Jamaica opportunities to travel outside the country playing a game that could get them recognized by scouts, opening doors that could change their lives.

This fundraiser is going to help support their summer AAU circuit travel as well as their camp back home in Jamaica.

Over a couple years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of the players, parents, coaches and staff associated with the program by driving to games whenever they were close enough and now they are coming to Philly!

Time to show our brotherly love and sisterly affection by making their trip as great an experience as possible! The team needs help with housing, food and transportation from July 8th to the 20th as they participate in the made hoops AAU circuit stop in Oaks Pa. Back home in Jamaica, they will be running their summer basketball camp to develop and recruit more young hoopers and we will also look to help support them with repairs to the court and goals as well as coolers, tents and cooling stations for the kids. (If you’ve never played basketball in Jamaica, you can’t imagine what its like to train in that heat!)

Several NBA players of Jamaican decent like Norman Powell, The Thompson twins and Isaiah Stewart have committed to playing for the national team and or repping Jamaica but most of them had to develop their skills either in the US or Canada which comes with several FIBA restrictions.

This is an opportunity for the Jamaican Diaspora, the basketball culture of Philadelphia and anyone interested in supporting underprivileged youth to positively impact lives in a powerful way! Anything you can give will be GREATLY appreciated! As we say, “Every mickle mek a muckle” (translation: every penny makes a dollar. Even small contributions add up to reach the end goal)