"Developing MEN of SUBSTANCE, using athletics as a motivational vehicle to prepare kids for the ultimate game of life"

MISSION STATEMENT "Providing a foundation for student athletes to succeed Personally, Academically and Athletically.” Inner City Players Athletics, founded by Executive Director, Canaan Chatman in the fall of 1997, intent in developing a system that would not only strengthen the physical aspects of a student athletes skill base, but more importantly create a balanced environment that will encourage as well as challenge these athletes to overcome many of life’s ongoing obstacles. Ultimately, "Developing Student Athletes of Substance. We have spent the past 15 years building one of the most competitive athletic environments in the country, in an effort to simultaneously teach the fundamentals of basketball as well as life. While most young athletes concentrate on the narrow short term visions that sports provide, we try to employ a larger message of fundamentals, teamwork and persistence, which are transferable to a variety of life experiences. "Developing Student Athletes of Substance” is the ICP motto, simply stating that all of our participants derive from different backgrounds and have immeasurable barriers in their world everyday, that could easily be used as an excuse to not pursue their dreams but instead our kids use these barriers as reinforced motivation to get over these obstacles in order to get a fresh start in LIFE. Overall character, academic achievement, time management, discipline and health awareness are a few of the major areas that ICP attempts to enhance in each participant. ICP Athletics holds annual visits with each participant and their families to discuss their child’s’ development needs on and off the court. This process also includes setting academic, athletic and social goals to be worked towards during the school year. ICP Athletics functions year round, beginning in the 3rd grade and being case managed through the completion of their senior year of high school. There is a maximum of 12 participants selected each year, through our evaluation period. This evaluation period will consist of academic tutorial sessions, along with physical and mental endurance exercises, geared to determine the level of dedication each participant possesses.

There are over 300 (past/ present) participants in the Inner City Players Athletics Program, carrying a 95% high school completion rate. Of these graduates, 90% have moved on to some form of higher education, by way of academic and/ or athletic scholarship. Although a vast majority of our student athletes have played club ball with our ICP teams, our support and services are rendered to many other kids who may have played for neighboring travel teams but still reside within our community............ IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD!