It’s a regular day of practice for the Ai2 Aviators. The acronym, Ai2 stands for all in together. Under the leadership of their coach Keith Creed the team was formed in response to community members reporting crimes around Riverside park.

“Parents were in an uproar because their children didn’t have a safe space to play and when I grew up in the 90s, the basketball court was our sanctuary and unfortunately this is where a lot of the cases of assault robbery and bullying occurred,” Creed said.

What You Need To Know

  • A youth basketball team on the Upper Westside is becoming a standout at local tournaments in the city. It was organized by community members concerned about dangers in their neighborhood

  • Coach Keith Creed says parents in the community were concerned over cases of assault, robbery and bullying in and around Riverside Park

  • It went from a few kids really wanting to learn to play the sport to being a nine member team competing in local city tournaments. The team even won their very first game back in December

  • The team’s next match up will be on Friday, March 17 at Bethel Gospel Assembly

He started stepping up back in September of last year -at first to monitor his own nephew, playing on local courts. As he assisted with drills, he was also the look out—an adult they could trust.

“I felt it was my responsibility and my duty to say hey we’re not going to allow this,” Creed said.

It went from a few kids really wanting to learn to play the sport to being a nine member team competing in local city tournaments. The team even won their very first game back in December.

“For a team that just started a couple months, with the teams we played been together for years, I’d say we’re doing pretty well,” said Liam Yaroslavsky, a 13-year-old member of the team.

Yaroslavsky admits he was far from the best at the sport before joining the team, but now with his teammates is more competitive than ever.

“I want to see us go into other tournaments. I see teams online in pictures holding trophies. I want that to be us,” Yaroslavsky said.

The teams have played 17 games so far, and have a record of 7 and 10. They admit they’re still growing and building on skills, but they don’t plan on backing down soon. Coach Creed said the love they’ve received from the community has been tremendous.

“The community is happy about children having the opportunity to be children, now-a-days with so many things on social media, so many things on the news, on the way to school, on the way home from school, kids don’t have the opportunity to be kids,” Creed said.  

The team’s next match up will be on Friday, March 17 at Bethel Gospel Assembly.