NBA Math Hoops

We’re so excited to kickoff the 2023 MLB Players STEM League season!! Over the next month and a half, we’ll be hosting training sessions for educators in target regions, including in-person trainings in Scottsdale, Arizona and St. Petersburg, Florida during Spring Training!

MLB Players STEM League targets students in grades 4-8, delivering fundamental math and social-emotional learning through a baseball-based board game, curriculum, and community events. Season gameplay will begin run March until the MLB Players Trust STEM League All-Star Championship in Seattle, Washington in July.

This season-culminating event will draw students from STEM league programs across the U.S. and Latin America!

Last week we had the opportunity to be part of the Beyond School Hours 2023 Conference hosted by Foundations, Inc.! Shoutout to everyone who participated in the Learn Fresh exhibit booth or Game Night! And a special thanks to those who attended the Learn Fresh panel discussion featuring Learn Fresh CEO & Co-Founder Nick Monzi, Coach Calvin, MLB Players Trust, Texas Education Agency, and Overdeck Family Foundation. We had so much fun showcasing NBA Math Hoops and MLB Players STEM League to educators from across the US! Can’t wait for 2024!

We’re back with a new episode of the Learn Fresh Podcast! Listen as Calvin and Nick chat with Learn Fresh’s Chief Program Officer, Colleen Serafini to discuss her career in education, her journey to joining Learn Fresh, and reflections on Learn Fresh’s work and mission. Full episode at https://loom.ly/XDfd5Nw

We’ve partnered with Knothole Foundation of the Carolina's to bring MLB Players STEM League to Wilson STEM Academy in Charlotte, NC! Knothole is a collaboration between U Deserve A Chance Foundation and the Carolinas Metro Reds and the organization’s mission is to increase access and opportunities for underserved youth through team participation and skill development on and off the baseball field.

By focusing on baseball instruction, academic support, and life skills development, the organization strives to eliminate racial inequity and expensive barriers to facilities, equipment, and instruction. We’re excited to contribute to that mission through high-quality math and social-emotional learning in the form of STEM League gameplay at Wilson!

This is Lusia Harris, pioneer of women’s basketball, coach, educator, mother, and legend of the sport. Today we’re honoring her story and legacy in celebration of Black History Month and National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

The daughter of sharecroppers, Lusia “Lucy” Harris was born and raised in Minter City, Mississippi, one of eleven children. As a girl, she idolized Bill Russel, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Oscar Robertson (who was her favorite), and played on a hoop with the kids in her neighborhood. But she learned the game for real at Amanda Elzy High School, where she developed into team captain and an unstoppable player. She went on to an historic college career, winning back-to-back-to-back national titles at Delta State University. Lusia was a first-team All-American and finished her college career with a 109-6 record while averaging 25.9 points and 14.5 rebounds per game. She was the only Black player on the Delta State team.

After college, Lusia represented the United States at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. It was the first women’s Olympic basketball tournament, and the US won a silver medal. In 1977, Lusia became the only women ever officially drafted into the NBA when she was selected in the seventh round by the New Orleans Jazz. In 1992, she became the first Black woman inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (with Oscar Robertson as her presenter).

Among other things, Lusia is remembered as one of the best women to ever play basketball, despite playing in an era before there were real professional opportunities for women in the sport. She is the subject of the documentary The Queen of Basketball.

Last week, Coach Calvin and Coach Smith attended the annual Philadelphia 76ers Youth Foundation Gala hosted by the Philadelphia 76ers. We’re grateful for our continued partnership with S*F through the Sixers Math Hoops program, which serves students across Philadelphia, Camden, NJ, and Wilmington, DE. Sixers Math Hoops has grown into one of our most impactful regional programs, and in 2022 we co-hosted the NBA Math Hoops National Championship with S*F in Philly. Congrats Sixers for a successful evening and for your continuous support!

Through our partnership with The Y, we were able highlight Learn Fresh programs at the YMCA West Coast Camp Retreat last year! Shoutout to Coach Steven for representing the Learn Fresh team during this event and for demonstrating the NBA Math Hoops & MLB Players STEM League programs to educators from Hawaii, Idaho, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, and California!

Today we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and honor his fight for justice and the equality of all people across the United States. Learn Fresh’s work is built on the idea that all students deserve access to high-quality education that is engaging, inspiring, and fun, and a vision of a world in which students are passionate about their learning. Each day, we seek to continue a small portion of MLK’s legacy through the pursuit of equity in STEM education, delivering programs in low-income communities and communities of color that help build pipelines for academic achievement and social-emotional growth. We believe that every student deserves to have big dreams, and also the tools to chase them.

Through a partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, we tipped off NBA Math Hoops programming in Fort Sam Houston with a training for educators in Fort Sam Houston Youth Programs! These educators serve nearly 60 youth living on the Texas base in afterschool programs. Shoutout to Coach Brie for introducing the educators to the NBA Math Hoops program!