The Sankofa Project

Last month, The Sankofa Project teamed up with the Walt Whitman High School JV Girls Basketball team and Alice Deal Middle School Girls Varsity Basketbell team  for an experience both of these Lady Viking teams won’t forget. After more than three years of straight wins, Whitman chose to Pay It Forward by showing their younger peers at Deal some of their game winning skills!

Walt Whitman High School’s Girls JV Basketball team has won 67 consecutive games-and anyone watching these girls would know why. The skills these young ladies display on the court are evident of teamwork, drive, and a close bond between the players.  But while 67 consecutive wins would seem like it would warrant a well deserved break from all the hours of suicides, lay-ups, and rebounds; Whitman’s girls chose to Pay It Forward to the young ladies of Alice Deal Middle School in Washington, DC.

Alice Deal’s ladies were excited to learn that they shared the same mascot name as Walt Whitman — the Lady Vikings.  They learned some new ball handling techniques and got to see fundamentally sound play …. An experience they’re likely to not soon forget.

One father of a Deal player shouted with joy when he saw his daughter quickly pick up a move that he had been struggling to get her to execute for weeks.   They did stations, ran suicides and played against each other and at the end of the day, Deal’s  team just didn’t want the Whitman girls to leave.

At The Sankofa Project, we aim to raise the bar of expectation for female students who may not think of a college education as an attainable goal or athletics as a vehicle to a full scholarship.  We focus on bringing in positive peer pressure with the hope of encouraging more female students to participate in school based team sports, especially sports that can lead to an NCAA scholarship. Seeing these Middle School girls holding their own as they played a couple of short games with some very tall players made us believe that our mission was accomplished at Deal …  we are hopeful that these young Lady Vikings will following in the footsteps of their High School mentors … all the way through high school and college.  >>>> BELIEVE

During her tenure as Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Winston Salem State University (NC), D. Michelle Stokes became well known for:

- Creating a Division I Women’s Basketball program;
- Compiling an impressive 8-21 record in the first year of Division I competition in spite of playing with an entire team composed of Division II level players; and,
- Taking over a team with a combined GPA below 2.5 and successfully turning it into a 3.0 GPA by implementing stringent policies of accountability for class and study hall attendance.

We are pleased to announce that D. Michelle Stokes has joined the Sankofa Project Team and will be available to inform and inspire coaches, players, and parents during our 4-day conference and classic December 26 thru December 30, 2013.