Heart 4 Kids Builds Basketball Capacity in Belize with N.B.A. Coaches

Heart 4 Kids, a non-profit organization based in the U.S., is hosting a United Belize Basketball Clinic to train a group of coaches and high school basketball players. Heart 4 Kids brought in a group of superstar coaches from the N.B.A., the G-League, the N.C.A.A., and top tier high school levels to facilitate these trainings. This initiative is taking place through a collaborative effort with the Belmopan Trojans. We spoke with Doctor Robert Harris the Founder and President of Heart 4 Kids, and Aldo Manzanero the Coordinator of the Belmopan Trojans at the Belize City Civic Center today.

Aldo Manzanero

Aldo Manzanero, Coordinator, Belmopan Trojans

“We are teaching coaches how to coach. So, we are basically giving them new perspectives, new sets, new ways to teach old things. So, that is what we are basically doing today. So, we brought four coaches in from the states. We have Mr. Tom Bridges from the Philadelphia 76ers. We have Mr. Bob Thornton from a college program, Mississippi State. We have Mr. Tom Hegre a high school coach who coached Paul George and Christian Woods. Our last coach is Mr. Steve Gansey who is actually the head coach for the Atlanta Hawks affiliate. So, he is the G-League Head Coach.”

Robert Harris

Dr. Robert Harris, Founder, Heart 4 Kids

“I am a proud product of Belize myself, born and raised in Belmopan. So, I grew up seeing great talent, great potential in a lot of my peers, even visiting home and seeing that level of resilience and grit that our kids have. For me, it was just an organic fit to found a non-profit organization that would serve our population. This particular initiative was really based on the premise that we do across the country all of us would agree that we have phenomenal athletes, but a lot of time our athletes don’t get exposure, the level of training necessary to perform at the pinnacle of where they can rise and achieve. That was the premise of this initiative, really looking at bringing in quality coaches with that level of experience who can then work with our coaches, take the skill set and capacity back to their communities and also on day two working directly for the entire day with our youth to walk them through plays and build their capacity directly.”