By: Jimmika Robinson
Serving as a pillar in the Greenbelt community, The Lady Angels basketball team has given young women in Greenbelt an opportunity to stay productive, engage in a rewarding extracurricular activity and give back to the community. The Lady Angels Basketball Team was founded in 2010 by Herbert Allen after a young lady looking for a place to play basketball approached him. At the time, a women’s basketball team did not exist at the recreational center, but Allen recognized the opportunity and the advantages that having one in the community could have for young women.
The Lady Angels is now a semi-professional team that has won a four championships playing in the M3 Canadian Basketball League in Montreal. They hold open woman’s basketball nights on Thursdays from 8 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. at Springhill Lake Recreation Center. In 2012, the Greenbelt Community Foundation funded a mentoring program for the team to hold workshops to teach leadership skills and to provide role models to young women in Greenbelt.
A lot can be expected from the Lady’s Angel basketball team for this 2016 season with tournaments this summer in Washington D.C, Maryland and Virginia. One of Allen’s major goals is to recruit more young women for the team, changing the lives of these young women and continuing the Lady’s Angels legacy with the support of the Greenbelt community.
The community is invited to a benefit basketball game on April 30th from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Springhill Lake Recreation Center. This event will help raise funds to enable The Lady Angels to play in major tournaments and win the championship again this year. The team has challenged Greenbelt city employees and perhaps a few city council members to try to beat them.
Sponsored by Paradyme Management, Beltway Plaza, Greenbelt News Review, McNamee Hosea, and CMShaw and Associates, this event is part of the Explore Your Greenbelt with the Greenbelt Community Foundation to celebrate its 10th anniversary. This is series of 14 monthly events and activities that will feature organizations that have received GCF funding. All are invited to attend to learn about these organizations and how GCF lives out its mission of “nourishing all of Greenbelt’s Neighborhoods”.