Britt spotlights Suffolk youth
Published 10:19 pm Friday, July 26, 2013
![The Britt-Quinn Enterprise, Inc. team celebrates a 3-1 record last weekend at a tournament in Delaware. Matthew Almond was not present due to illness while Derrick Fenell and Ron Trey Pope are not pictured because they were not scheduled to play. On the far left is Nick Walker of Suffolk. (McArthur Britt photo)](https://www.suffolknewsherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2013/07/photo.jpg)
The Britt-Quinn Enterprise, Inc. team celebrates a 3-1 record last weekend at a tournament in Delaware. Matthew Almond was not present due to illness while Derrick Fenell and Ron Trey Pope are not pictured because they were not scheduled to play. On the far left is Nick Walker of Suffolk. (McArthur Britt photo)
Suffolk’s Michael Britt has been using his influence and his nonprofit organization the last two weekends to help make college scouts aware of young Suffolk basketball players.
Matthew Almond, Derrick Fenell, Ron Trey Pope and Nick Walker, all of Suffolk, played in a tournament at Delaware State University last weekend and will be featured twice today in a Washington, D.C., event.
The foursome plays on a team of North Carolina players that Britt formed after doing a camp in Gates County. Everyone on the roster is in either ninth or 10th grade.
Delaware State scouts expressed interest in some of the players on the team, and Britt has confirmed that scouts will be present today from Howard University and his alma mater, the University of the District of Columbia.
“They’ll be able to see what the future holds,” Britt said.
Britt, a sports hall of famer at his alma mater and a former National Basketball Association player, will also play today in a game at the same event with other ex-NBA players.
He works through Britt-Quinn Enterprise Inc. to help young people in the area, and his connections in the basketball world make opportunities like the one the youth have today happen.
Britt said he formed this latest team of underclassmen when “some of my old friends were interested in a team to get together to play in the events that they were having.”
He had five or six players from North Carolina, but he looked around in Suffolk to fill the rest of the roster.
Describing his four recruits, he said, “These are guys that pretty much you don’t hear much about, but they’re willing to learn, they’re willing to get better.”
He said some of them may have been overlooked throughout their freshman year.
“They have a broader network of people watching them now,” Britt said.
The team played at Britt’s recent Communities Coming Together event, held at Lakeland High School. Last weekend in Delaware, it played against opponents from New York, Philadelphia and the host state, going 3-1, with Britt and Robert Carroll serving as coaches.
The lone loss came in a close championship game against the same Delaware squad it had defeated at Lakeland.
Today, the Britt-Quinn team will face opponents from Washington-area Theodore Roosevelt Senior High and Calvin Coolidge Senior High schools.
The three teams will be the youngsters in an event put on by the Senior Services Division of the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation.
Also included in the program will be a Legends All-Star Game with former D.C.-area high school players and an exhibition-style showdown between a group of older players from Montgomery County and Department of Motor Vehicles employees. Later, Britt will play in the Legend Invitation All-Star Game, featuring the former pro players.
While Britt enjoys playing, his main focus remains on the youth.
“We just want to showcase them in front of some people that need to see them (so) they can get into college,” he said. “In fact, we are already in talks of doing another outing like this.”