Golden State Warriors teach inmates to become basketball coaches

2024-10-17 14:50:02

The Golden State Warriors announced a new project this week designed to help inmates at California State Prison, Solano. It is called the Twinning Project. A nonprofit in England started it five years ago. It paired Premier League Soccer teams with local prisons to teach inmates how to become soccer coaches. Now, for the first time, it expanded to basketball by teaming up with the Golden State Warriors and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to help inmates at the Solano prison. “The delivery of a program of this nature does a lot for the mental and physical well-being,” said Hilton Freund, CEO of the Twinning Project. “We start to see improved relationships with the prisoners and their fellow inmates and improved relationships with prison staff.”Over a dozen inmates were selected for this program. It is a six-week camp where coaches from the Warriors Basketball Academy and the Positive Coaching Alliance go to the prison and teach the inmates what it takes to coach the sport. Learning how to be a coach means learning how to become a role model.”You need good leadership,” said Freund. “Good timekeeping. Be able to resolve conflict. Anger management. All the kinds of characteristics that are missing or absent from these individuals at the time of their incarceration.”Inmates who applied were interviewed by prison staff. They selected inmates who they thought would be a good fit. Some of the inmates see this as an opportunity for change. “It’s almost like being back in college or high school,” said Ray Woodfork, an inmate. “To be able to be a part of something that is bigger than yourself.”Woodfork is currently serving life without parole. He has been incarcerated for over 20 years. He says the first 10 years were challenging, and then he decided to make a change. “March 18, 2014, I was in the hole for something that I did,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘This can’t be it.'”He decided to get involved in prison church and, eventually, recreational sports. Now he is excited to be a part of this new project. “Just holding the ball feels different,” he said. “We are human beings. We entered here at the worst moments in our lives when we did something wrong to put us here. But were not ‘not humans;’ we still have a chance.”The Warriors said they have been working on setting this program up for a year. “We just think it is a natural fit,” said Jeff Addiego, vice president of the Warriors Basketball Academy.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter