Sneakers for Kids

Hi! My name is Diedre Archibald. But everyone calls me Deedee. I’m a mom of two great kids. I’m a Paraprofessional for Boston Public Schools. Let me give you my back story! I’ve been playing basketball since I was 8 years old. Sometime later I played on the middle school girl's basketball team. I also played in high school. My love for playing basketball has never died. Even though I have had several injuries from it, I still love it. Growing up I’ve always played and attended basketball tournaments run by men. I’ve never played in any tournaments run by women. This is odd because so many women I know play basketball heavily. In the summer, I run a free sports camp in Mattapan. We play all sports but we mainly end our days playing basketball. My staff all play on the many different Boston Public School Highschool teams. This past summer they all played in a tournament and they asked me to coach them. We won 10 games but lost our last two. Costing us the championship. Coaching my staff brought the idea to have my own 3-on-3 outdoor basketball tournament! So I was thinking long and hard about what I could name my tournament. After a day, I came up with “Play with Heart”. Every player should play with their heart no matter what sport they play.

Here's where you come in to be a future sponsor! In total, I will have 40 boys and girls from all around to play in my tournament. I want each kid to walk away with a pair of sneakers. Some parents can’t afford a decent pair of shoes for their kids. I’m asking for any type of donation to help me get shoes for each player! If you could donate anything. I don’t care if it's a dollar. That still helps! The game will take place Saturday, June 10th, 2023 at 11 am at Walker Playground in Mattapan.