A lower-cost community basketball program in Scarborough, which has worked with hundreds of children and family members, is appealing for help by turning to crowdfunding in an effort to keep its doors open.
“Honestly, we are pretty much down to the wire,” Earl James told CityNews.
“One of the big things that we have for this program is accessibility, right, and making it affordable for families, and so we do. We refuse just to put the burden of that on the families.”
James and Iyan Kulendran are the co-founders of Northball Athletics. They are also the driving forces behind the United Scarborough Initiative, which operates various programs for youth and seniors.
With an eye toward affordability, they said they’re charging less than $300 a year, or $25 a month, for basketball training. It’s a cost that’s a fraction of some other programs.
Located on Shorting Road in north Scarborough near McCowan Road and Sheppard Avenue East, James and Kulendran said they rented a commercial space they converted into a basketball court and gym space after losing a sub-leased space at a private school. They said they pay around $15,000 a month to rent plus additional expenses.
“From laying down the court, pulling out the nails from the wall, making the parging mix, we did a two-week haul of day and night … I would say a lot of sweat and tears went into this,” Kulendran said.
For youth like Ajayesh Kalaiselvan, he told CityNews the experience over the past two years has been transformative.
“The most troubling part about being here at Northball is leaving because I never want to leave,” the teen said.
“They emphasize building a strong bond not only with the coaches, but also with the people around you, and the bonds and the friendships I’ve made here have truly they’ve stuck with me.”
Kalaiselvan, who is set to turn 14 years old, became interested in basketball during the Toronto Raptors 2019 NBA Championship run. For the past two years in the program, he has focused on playing the point guard and shooting guard positions.
“The difference between me now, aside from what in an alternate reality if I didn’t come here, the difference is skill and even as a person would be it’d be drastic,” Kalaiselvan said.
“Getting stronger and getting bigger is my main goal.”
But difficulties at home and school haven’t made his recent journey an easy one. Even though Kalaiselvan was the valedictorian of his Grade 8 class recently, he said he wasn’t able to truly embrace the sport and the sense of community it can bring.
“At school, that environment wasn’t really the best for me as I did experience bullying, but here at Northball I got that support and the friends I’ve made here … I will say some coaches are like older brothers to me,” Kalaiselvan said.
Recently, he had to deal with not having one of his biggest supporters by his side for an extended period of time as his mother had a hard fight with cancer. She ended up in a hospital ICU ward
“I texted all the coaches and they came there and they supported me, and it constantly checked up on me, helped me out, and it felt like I had a support family here,” Kalaiselvan said while thanking them, especially one named J.J.
“He pulled me aside and then he trained with me, and then coming here it was my outlet from all the things that were happening at home.”
Nithiya Nagendrarajah, Ajayesh’s mother, said she was deeply appreciative for that support.
“It’s very hard for a kid when a mom goes through cancer, so for them to be there it meant a lot,” she said.
“I fell ill and I was late on payments, I was stuck in the hospital … they all were understanding. They were like, ‘It’s OK, make sure you get better. He can still come to class,’ and then when I came, I ended up paying, but it’s affordable for someone who’s really struggling.”
When asked to reflect on her son’s experience in the program, Nagendrarajah said she has seen a huge difference.
“His own personality was very positive, his skills, he comes home and he works hard and he’s just driving like, ‘I want to do this. I want to do that,’ and he never had that motive when he used to play on the school court,” she said.
“The way they welcomed the children, they made sure no one felt excluded. It told me right away that this was the place.”
Malcolm King, who grew up in Scarborough and used to play on the Seneca Polytechnic basketball team, is one of the coaches who helps with the program. For him, the motivation is personal.
“I was diagnosed with ADHD at a young age … I was kind of misunderstood or mislabeled as the bad kid. Once I found a sport and I found something to put my energy into, found something to really just focus on, my life changed,” King said, adding that consistency in practicing is key.
He also said he was “fortunate enough” to have great mentors in his life to help build his skills and character, and said he wants to provide that to all youth.
“In this day and age with social media, with the news, certain things have become very enticing so things … that are negative can be portrayed in a very positive light, and I think it’s up to us, up for guys that look like me, to help these kids understand the city, understand the downfalls and the system, and really just keep them away from that,” King said.
“I kind of fit the status quo. I’m African American with tattoos, I’m a big guy, so a lot of times I’ve kind of walked into places and I’ve had certain stigmas being thrown at me. But once you hear me talk and you see how I correspond or I just carry myself. I want to be able to mentor these guys.”
It’s this type of commitment that James and Kulendran said contributes to making the Scarborough program a reality.
“We have a budget on that, so there’s so many that we can’t afford on a week-to-week and the rest of them just volunteer, and then they rotate who actually gets paid,” James said.
The pair said that based on the current budget, the program only has months left. They’re hoping to raise money through crowdfunding to deal with all the costs and to prolong Northball. There’s also a callout for more volunteers.
“What we’re really doing here is we’re here to uplift the community. We are positioned. We have the team. We got the leadership. We have this amazing facility. We have the framework of a program. We’re not a pipe dream,” James said.
“We’re building your future leaders. We are creating the future MPs, the future police officers, the future track stars, the future firefighters, and that’s what we want to do is we want to be leaders that create leaders,” Kulendran said.
Click here for information on the United Scarborough Initiative and click here for more information on Northball Athletics.
