Antoine Jennings, AJ Jennings, Cathy De Schouwer and Louis De Schouwer. [Photo: Denise Ritchie]

Crossover Mission brought the game off the court and into the Moorings Yacht and Country Club during its sixth annual Spring Gala last Monday evening.

Tuxedoed young men in sporty red bowties greeted arriving guests and escorted them to a champagne reception in the Governor’s Lounge, displaying the class and respect they are expected to exhibit on and off the court.

The nonprofit was founded in 2014 by Antoine Jennings and Cathy De Schouwer, having met when De Schouwer’s son, Louis, wanted Jennings as his coach. The pair realized that at-risk children would benefit from the model of using basketball to entice them to focus on academics and aspire to a better life.

“Our main objective is to not allow kids to go through some of the things that we’ve gone through. We want to give them the support, guidance and structure they need. We want to let them know that we love them,” said Jennings. “We are not going to allow any of our kids to fall through the cracks.”

Prior to dinner, the boys performed a synchronized routine, dribbling lighted balls to “We Will Rock You” – and that is precisely what they did.

“It’s been six years of honing our effectiveness and building our operations; forming this youth development program, trying to make something of substance,” said De Schouwer. “Today we’re training and mentoring 70 kids in the game of basketball as the motivational carrot, followed behind with a powerful one-on-one academic mentoring program that supports education and provides social-emotional tools necessary for success in life.”

Nathan Shalom was surprised with the presentation of the 2020 Kamaree Lyons Student Achievement Award, which memorializes a beloved member of the Crossover team who collapsed and died in 2018 from an undetected heart condition during a pickup basketball game at Sebastian River High School.

“We were in awe at his constant striving for excellence” said Kim Hanley, education coordinator, of Lyons. “He showed strength despite significant personal loss and challenges, and he is the embodiment of who we want to empower our students to be. His life was cut tragically short, but his legacy will live on in our hearts and in our daily program at Crossover.”

Shalom said that Crossover “became a strong rock that I needed in my life that made me a better student, a better son, a better man and it gives me the tools to be the best professional I can be too.”

“Crossover Mission is Antoine Jennings’ mission, which he discovered the night he found himself face down on the concrete with a gun to his head, certain that he was going to be killed” said Brad Lorimier, board chairman. “He realized then that he had a mission to help kids who needed help the most find a path to success as students, as athletes and as successful adults. To help them realize that there is a way out of the circle of generational poverty and generational incarceration, to give them the tools for character development and to guide them towards civic responsibility.”

Lorimier noted that 58 percent of local students qualify for free or reduced lunches, being below or near the poverty level.

“These kids live in a high-risk environment and are exposed to gangs, drugs, guns and violence, and fewer than 2,000 of them receive support from any of the several agencies whose mission is dedicated to providing that support,” he said.

Crossover has made great strides on and off the court. Only two Crossover students were eligible to try out for their school basketball teams in 2014. Today, more than 85 percent of their middle and high school athletes made their school team. Academically, they have increased from zero students on the A/B honor roll to 13.

For more information, visit crossovermission.com.