Rowdy Hoops: Shooting hoops for a good cause

The Rowdy Foundation held their annual Rowdy Hoops game today at Heritage Academy.

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)-  Heritage Academy seniors shot some hoops for a good cause.

The Rowdy Foundation held their annual Rowdy Hoops game today at Heritage Academy.

Kids were learning the basics of basketball with the senior class of Heritage Academy on Saturday.

Rowdy Hoops is an event that allows children with special needs to play basketball with high school students guiding them.

Founder Whitney Ferguson said she started this foundation for her son Myers.

“My little boy Myers, when he was diagnosed I was driving around town, wasn’t really sure how to get him engaged in the community, so we started the rowdy foundation. Once we got him settled and in a good place we started the rowdy foundation to provide events for the community for our special needs friends,” Ferguson said.

They hope to give all children the opportunity to be active and get the community involved.

“This is just a way to get the community involved and have events available and inclusive for all family and friends. It is not every day that they can just go sit at a basketball game, sometimes it is very hard. So being able to go sit and enjoy a game and watch the kids play, hopefully it is a great experience for everyone. This community has grown quite a bit. We started reaching out to new people. We have a lot of new faces here today and we are really excited that they’re getting involved in and able to participate,” Ferguson said.

Some seniors spoke about why they picked Rowdy Hoops for their senior project.

“We met together as a class, to decide on this and we thought. The seniors did this last year as well and we liked how they did everything, we thought it was really good for the community,” Spencer Singley.

“The kids can like learn you know that just cause you know how they’re made you know we are all different types of people that they are still able to have fun you know. Experience different life joys that us regular kids you know have. You know we are all connected as a family,” Lathan Dunbar-Keys said.

And the kids participating are getting an enriching experience.

“Maybe like a hundred. I like to do crossovers,” participant Adelyn said.

“A million and a thousand. I hope everybody has a great day,” participant Myers said.

Rowdy Hoops has been an annual event since 2020.

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