Team Sage's Rise Above The Rim event

R i s e A b o v e t h e R i m ! Incorporating Academic and Social Accountability with Organized Sports
   
SACRAMENTO, CA - Team SAGE: Scholar Athletes Globally Emerging will host its third annual educational clinic for amateur athletes at the State Capitol, Saturday, October 20, 2012. “This year, our focus will be encouraging participants to explore life without reservations; learning the importance of team collaboration, and the art to conversing with the media,” stated Wornel Simpson, CEO and Team SAGE Founder.

WHO: Team SAGE (Scholar Athletes Globally Emerging) is a Sacramento-based, Amateur Athletic Union (AAU)
basketball-scholar program that has earned national and international recognition in the AAU arena because of its focus on academic achievement and social accountability.

WHEN: Saturday - October 20, 2012; 9 a.m. – Noon

WHERE: The State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 Committee Room 126

MEDIA VISUALS: (Team Sage Short Film) (www.teamsage.org)

Workshops & Presenters

“Becoming a Triple-Impact Competitor,” -- Bill Herenda, Executive Director, Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) Sacramento

Since 1998, PCA has been committed to providing youth athletes a positive, character-building sports experience, and has conducted more than 10,000 live group workshops to a combined 675,000 plus, youth and high school coaches, parents, student-athletes and school/organizational leaders nationwide. Bill Herenda is the Executive Director of PCA Sacramento and is a key member of the 1988 NCAA DII National Championship UMass-Lowell basketball team. Bill serves as color analyst on ESPNU, the UC Davis radio network, Comcast Hometown Network, and as an on-air contributor to sports talk radio. In the community, Bill is an alumnus of Leadership Sacramento and the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s premier program for leaders. Triple Impact Competitor is an interactive workshop that will teach participants a three-level strategy to elevating their game by improving oneself, teammates and honoring the game as a whole. Participants will also receive a copy of the book “Elevating Your Game, Becoming a Triple-Impact Competitor” by PCA Founder Jim Thompson.

“Lights, Camera and Athletes,” -- Leticia “Tish” Palamidessi, Sacramento News 10 Traffic Anchor & Producer

Born and raised in Sacramento, Tish Palamidessi has been with the Sacramento ABC affiliate, News10, since May of 2008. Before joining News10 as a fill-in Traffic Anchor and producer, Tish could be heard on several radio stations throughout the valley reporting news, traffic, and weather updates through the Sacramento-based Metro Networks, Inc.

In her workshop “Lights, Camera and Athletes,” Tish will coach participants on establishing a healthy relationship with the media and the key to mastering post-game interviews with poise, confidence, and competency.

WHY: Statistics show when youth are unsupervised during the time period immediately after school, they have a greater likelihood of becoming involved in vandalism, gang violence, drugs and other mischievous and illegal activities. These problems are magnified in disadvantaged urban communities. “An at-risk child becomes an at-risk adult”.

Team SAGE is a program constructed to propel Sacramento-area youth to a higher level of educational ownership and civic responsibility, as well as enhance their athletic talents resulting in intellectually prepared student-athletes.

Each year workshop participants gain a better understanding of the issues that help or hinder talented young athletes and leave with a renewed sense of commitment to the SAGE mission “to create an educational experience embodying the principles of sound mind and sound body, by incorporating academic and social accountability with organized sports”.

History: Founded in 2009, Team SAGE, Inc. through its strategic partnerships provides scheduled tutoring sessions, mentoring opportunities, college tours, specialized athletic training activities, counseling and high level sports competition for SAGE scholar-athletes and affiliates.

Team SAGE served as the model program for a Team SAGE-Salvation Army joint venture coined “Project Tip-Off”. The program, funded by the City of Sacramento Youth Services Dept. provided tutoring services and college preparation for over 350 kids in several multi-family housing areas of Sacramento, including Oak Park, G Parkway and Meadowview. Academic support including but not limited to professional tutoring and SAT preparation was provided. Community service activities, health and nutrition education, college recruiting support, competitive AAU basketball team participation, sports camps, basketball clinics and other activities comprised the remainder of the program.

This event is sponsored in part by: Wornel Simpson, CARES (Center for AIDS Research Education & Services), Debbie Manning, Glenn A. Middleton, DDS, Olsen & Fielding Moving Co., PG&E, RCP-Sacramento, Sacramento High School-Varsity Basketball Team, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity‐Gamma Epsilon, Target Excellence, and Wells Fargo.

For those coaches and teams interested in attending, please contact Velessata Kelley at 916-837-8614

Meet Terrence White

Football or basketball? Basketball or football? Options are always good to have even if the ultimate decision might be a difficult one. Team Sage and Inderkum High dual sport talent Terrence White might just decide to try both in college.

A 16-year-old 6-foot-1 junior, White is a combination backcourter and running back/defensive back and has created interest for his services in both sports based on his participation in just his first two years of high school.

With roundball in particular, he's been a starter and all-league selection since his freshman season and White led his varsity Tiger teammates with 14.8 points per game as a sophomore.

Here's Team Sage founder Wornel Simpson on White: "An original Team Sage-Truth member, Terrence has been an iron-man, having never missed a game and we've played close to 125. He brings intensity, athleticism and the ability to score in bunches. Terrence is super athletic, plays great man-to-man defense and can take a game over offensively. He can also close out and track down loose balls with the best of them. He is arguably the best junior in the city, and if not, the most athletic. Doubling as a stand-out defensive back and running back on Inderkum's championship football team, Terrence is a definite D-I prospect."

Simpson added, "I've coached him since the sixth grade and several D-1 coaches have already inquired about Terrence -- he along with 3-4 of his Sage teammates will be hot commodities if they continue to work hard and develop over the next two years. Playing 17s in the Las Vegas Fab 48, this past July, Terrence and his young teammates had 18-25 college coaches watching every move in three of the four games they played at Desert Oasis HS."

Asked to delineate his sports affection, White offered that "basketball is my first love." He grew up on it and he and his brothers lived for the sport. It was a cousin who got him interested in football.

To a query about his best basketball skills, White said, " Going to the rack, I'm a scrappy guy. Plus, my mid-range jumper."

What's interesting is that he switches roles depending on the hoops uniform he is sporting.

"In high school, I'm the guy who needs to score but with AAU ball, one day it's you, the next day it's a teammate."

He also notes a change he has experienced -- "In my freshman year, you think you're the best person on the team but I've matured and now I try and get others involved."

Academically, all Team Sage members must maintain a 3.3 grade point average so White is on target for college. Per Simpson, "Terrence consistently attends tutoring and continues to show improvement academically."

It's still mighty early regarding recruiting but White offered, "I kind of want to go to the East Coast to experience something different."

Collegiately, he believes it will boil down to being a point in basketball and a slot receiver in football. In the latter, he already owns a 4.5 forty time.

When asked how his friends would describe him, White said "a funny guy who likes to make everybody laugh."

That's not likely what opposing players would say.

Simpson added, "Yes, Terrence loves people and enjoys making people laugh, but what he doesn't realize is that he has a special gift for bringing people together. His leadership qualities aren't defined, but as his coach and friend, I recognize them. Terrence is the one player I text before traveling to big games imploring him to be a leader. He always texts back "I got you Coach!" His attack mentality, defensive toughness, all-out hustle and leadership qualities will earn him a free education. Team Sage periodically brings in D-1 guards originally from the Bay Area to work out against our guards and Terrence physically holds his own and still has two more years of high school to continue getting better and stronger."

Welcome to Team Sage

We have been remiss. Sure, there are quite a number of competitive club basketball teams up in and around Sacramento but underclassmen laden Team Sage (Scholar Athletes Globally Emerging) deserves specific coverage despite the 2012 spring and summer playing season being in the rear view mirror.

Wornel Simpson founded the program which will be entering year four come spring. His background: "a University of California-Davis graduate, he has recently been named one of California’s leading forward thinkers and visionaries by California Forward. He has coached and played in professional, developmental, adult and AAU competitions and is certified by the National High School Federation having completed the Fundamentals of Coaching and the California State Component."

So why is there a Team Sage?

Simpson explained, "Because children are our future. Team Sage is committed to improving the lives of California's children. We encourage our student-athletes to be creative, explore original ideas and have a willingness and confidence to try things out and make mistakes and try again. All of this can be accomplished through lessons learned on the basketball court supplemented by Team Sage's educational initiatives."

Here's the program's mission statement: "to create an educational experience embodying the principles of sound mind and sound body, by incorporating academic and social accountability with organized sports." 

The backers utilize a wholistic approach towards the youth members, focusing on academic achievement (maintaining a 3.3 grade point average is a must or mandatory, free-of-charge, tutoring becomes part of the training equation) and social accountability.

"Team Sage's vision," Simpson offered, "is to build the capacity of prepared, accountable student-athletes who will graduate from four-year, accredited universities, and go on to be pillars in the community, as well as role models who will reach back and lift others up through their efforts. If this happens, mission accomplished." 

Off the court, Team Sage members are provided with support that has nothing to do with basketball but everything to do with providing knowledge and therefore opportunity: "peer counseling, peer mentoring, and peer tutoring sessions, along with free Educational Workshops focusing on a variety of topics such as obesity prevention and reduction; health nutrition; relationships; HIV/AIDS awareness; athletes and the law; arts and culture; etiquette and pragmatism. Learning about nutrition at our educational seminars also help. The kids are cognizant of what and when they put in their bodies."

From Simpson, here are the goals underpinning Team Sage: "We want to see our players win on the basketball court and in life. I believe an at-risk child becomes an at-risk adult. Team SAGE strives to incorporate the very definition of the term ‘sage’ into the daily lives of our scholar-athletes. We want to see them become wise, astute, educated, and insightful and practice good judgment. That’s what we strive for both on and off the court.”

So how did this all begin?

"Team Sage began focused on three eighth-grade teams," Simpson said. "In addition to a 100% high school graduation rate, we also set as a goal for all of our kids to be UC-eligible upon graduation from high school. In order to be UC eligible, you pretty much have to start off high school in the 9th grade taking the right courses. That's why we have so many (approximately 43) playing high school basketball right now. That first year, those three teams spent a lot of time preparing academically for their freshman year in high school. Our next 8th grade class the following year after the initial three teams were the Nor Cal Pharoahs-Sage coached by Don Roberson. We didn't have an eighth grade team this past year, however we have a fifth grade team and by the time the older teams have graduated and are out of the way, we'll have another crop ready for their high school years."

Simpson is also willing to go against the grain if it benefits the kids. As he explained, "I brought in skill development trainer Kelvin (KP) Potts to work with my team for 10 consecutive Tuesdays for two hours each session. We also did 4-6 sessions with him year before last. Team Sage also works out at Kidd's Sports Gym in Oak Park with trainer Charles Kidd. There, the kids get strength training, weight lifting, agility and jumping drills, Saturday morning boot camps, going to Paradise Beach and running in sand and uphill. So, basically, our kids are preparing themselves for the rigors of collegiate basketball prematurely. I have also brought in coaches like Lester Diaz from the Renegades and Don Roberson from the Pharoahs to work on certain things with my kids. It makes it difficult when we rarely have to play their teams, but it's in the best interest of the kids to give them outside instruction as well as coaching from our three coaches on Team Sage-Truth."

Here are the members of the top Team Sage squad from this spring/summer (class standing is for the coming season). Descriptions provided by Coach Simpson:

* Mo Britten - 6-foot-3, wing, junior, Del Campo HS

"Mo is versatile, has long arms and can effectively play four positions"

* Jalen Davis - 6-foot-3, wing, River City HS

" Jalen is long, lean and has become extremely aggressive defensively."

* Forrest Johnson - 5-foot-9, guard, junior, Bradshaw Christian HS

"Forrest is dependable and digs in defensively."

* Cameron Graham - 6-foot-4, wing, junior, Sacramento High

"Cameron is a streaky 3-point shooter who presents challenges defensively out top."

* Benson Osayande - 6-foot-7, post, junior, Franklin HS

"Benson is our presence in the middle and on the wing. Great athleticism and motor."

* Jamaryion Simmons - 6-foot-4 1/2, wing, junior, Independent Study

"Jamaryion is big, athletic and very skillful, our enforcer."

* Kellen Simpson - 6-foot-1, point, junior, Sacramento High

"Kellen and Terence are the best defensive guard tandem in Nor Cal. Kellen is totally unselfish and the consummate point guard, needs to shoot more."

* Brandon Thompson - 6-foot-4, wing, junior, Christian Brothers HS

"Brandon is long, athletic and very quick. He rebounds, shoots mid-range and 3's effectively and is a force defensively out front."

* Terrence White - 6-foot-1, guard, junior, Inderkum HS

"Terrence is super athletic and is capable of taking games over offensively."