MISSION The Watts Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing youth with a multicultural, economically diverse environment using team athletics and academic support to create a community that nurtures self-awareness, mutual acceptance and a standard of excellence.
VISION “Strong Bodies, Strong Minds, Strong Communities”
The CONFIDENCE to stay POISED when faced with tough decisions. The CONFIDENCE to stay FOCUSED when faced with PRESSURE. The CONFIDENCE to execute with INTENSITY and INTENTION.
Dear Friends, As you know, I have dedicated my life to the sport of basketball and worked hard to develop my skills and learned to capitalize on my gifts and talents. Unfortunately, the injury that ended my NBA career would have been devastating if I hadn’t had three advantages. First, I had a family and community that taught me the value of working hard and living with integrity. Second, I had the experience of playing on teams for most of my life and learned the value of cooperation, reciprocity and building relationships that last. And, finally, I had an education. I had completed my college degree and, therefore, had all of the necessary qualifications to continue to support my family. In this day and age, our families are too often fractured, our sense of community has diminished and our urgency about the need for an education beyond high school has all but disappeared. The Watts Foundation’s goal is to create a culture that will reinforce all of the positive qualities of our community while distracting our children from the negative influences. As a recipient of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award for my service to the community, it is important to me that we go beyond developing personal performance. It is important that we instill in our young people the importance of giving back to the communities that have supported us. We strongly believe that the discipline and focus that is learned through participating in a team sport as well as the nurturing of their intellect, cultivation of the sense of civic responsibility and exposure to future possibilities, will help our children overcome the obstacles they face. With your help and guidance, we can create a new reality for our children! With Deepest Gratitude,
Donald “Slick” Watts Co-Founder
Program Description
The Basketball to Books program takes a holistic approach to scholar-athlete development. We focus on the areas that serve the students’ athletic, academic and civic abilities. It is our hope that learning the game of basketball in a nurturing and safe but challenging environment will reinforce the values of integrity, self-discipline, service, and education – on and off the court.
Developmental Basketball Program To improve on-court skills and to emphasize the importance of using on court-talent while being a beneficial addition to a TEAM.
Academic Support Provide student athletes that struggle with academics the necessary support to succeed.
Mentoring To inspire athletes to imagine a bigger future while supporting strong values and personal responsibility.
Health/Nutrition To provide a proper diet plan for each athlete and to provide a seminar from a professional nutritionist explaining the importance of a proper diet and how it affects an athlete’s performance – eat healthy to give your body premium gas to fuel the engine.
Community Service/Stewardship To provide youth with an awareness and appreciation for service to their community.
Strength/Fitness To introduce a no impact strength training workout based on balance, stability and focus
Basketball Developmental Program
This program consists of four components of age/skill-appropriate developmental teams and leagues. AAU Tournament and Developmental Teams (Spring/Summer): The teams range from 4th to 8th grade. We will have two divisions – A Teams and B Teams. Each team will have 10 to 12 players. The A Teams will consist of players who have demonstrated enough skill to be competitive in local tournaments. The 7th and 8th grade A teams will play locally as well as travel to out-of-town tournaments. The B Teams are developmental teams that will play in local tournaments only. Members can move up to A teams as they progress in skill development. 360 Competitive Development Program (Spring/Summer): These teams are performance enhancement teams that will play in the men’s league tournaments. The purpose is to give developing high school players more playing time during off season while giving them the benefit of performance coaching in a game environment. Those players demonstrating significant skill development will be sponsored to participate in the summer camps where they will be seen by college coaches. Second Look Tournament Tour (Spring): This team is a select team of highly skilled high school sophomores(3-4), juniors (5) and seniors (4) who have shown sufficient talent and demonstrated commitment to developing their skills to be competitive for Division I college play. The purpose of this program is to provide in-depth performance enhancement coaching; provide the seniors with a “last chance” exposure to college recruiters and provide underclassmen with exposure to advance tournament play and the competitive basketball system. This team will play locally to warm up for three major tournaments – two in Las Vegas and one in Houston, TX. Instructional League (Fall): This will be an elementary after school program in which participants (boys and girls) will play in intra-mural coed teams 3 days a week and have homework club 2 days a week. The games will be coached and refereed by older kids as part of their service commitment and will be supervised by one adult. All participants must participate in the homework club to be eligible to participate in the intramural league.
Testimonials
“Alex is enjoying being a part of the team and his teammates have been friendly and welcoming as well. The coaches are wonderful, very knowledgeable, highly skilled and most supportive. At this point in time, we really only know Donald. I have expressed this to Donald in the past, but "Donald Watts is a blessing to our son, Alex." He teaches him much more than basketball skills, he teaches honor, respect, pride (not only in the game of basketball, but pride in oneself), and what a positive work ethic he instills! Donald is an incredible young man, and expert basketball player and coach, and a person I feel blessed to have touched the life of my son and my family.” ~~ Allen Hildebrand, Parent “Our son Christopher has been blessed with awesome coaches, Cedric Prim recognized his ability and potential and has guided him to another coach Donald Watts, the two of them together have coached our son and given him the tools and instructions to further his basketball career if he so chooses. What the (program) is offering is life skills; the way you behave on the court is how you should behave off the court. Both my husband and I are thankful to Coach Watts and Coach Prim for their love of the game and our son.” ~~ Traci Kidd, Parent “Scot learned a lot from Coach Watts and Coach Prim, and is grateful for the opportunity to play for them. They saw the strengths that Scot has, and let him know what needed improvement. He is more assertive on defense, and not afraid of contact, and still loves to run. He is learning to make good choices on the court. Scot would like to keep practicing and playing with the team.” ~~ John Rowland, Parent “I believe we couldn't find better coaching! I hope Donald and Cedric can continue with these young men. What they are doing with our children is about more than just basketball--something that is hard to come by these days.” ~~ Michelle Sarju, Parent
“What I like about being with coach is that even though it may seem we give up on him he never gives up on us. He is funny, smart and he knows a lot about basketball to teach us, and he's our family.” ~~ William Gray, Player