We Are the City Spotlight on San Francisco Rebels Basketball
By the San Francisco Rebels Staff
SF Rebels has grown from a seasonal recreation program into a year-long, youth development organization with the mission to empower and strengthen inner city youth and their families. The SF Rebels approach integrates youth development principles with the benefits of sports activity and team participation, effectively using athletics as a gateway to deliver education, advocacy, after school enrichment, job placement, leadership training, and other supportive services. Throughout our 30-year history, we have achieved great success with efforts to end generational poverty by helping youth avoid the risks that trap so many of their peers. SF Rebels and has grown to include more than 15,000 student-athletes, and 300 volunteers, faculty. and alumni. Over the years, 26 SF Rebels alumni have gone on to play basketball at the professional level!
Our city is very unique in its overall make-up: so much diversity throughout all aspects of life. People, neighborhoods, activities, even the weather is unpredictable! Yet, overall, we are a city of people that genuinely care for each other. We still rally together to stand up for social justice, we work collectively between government and private sectors to support children and marginalized communities, and we still take time to honor and support our local sport teams, from the Warriors and the SF Rebels to the 49ers and the Brown Bombers. There are still divisions within our city, but overall, we unite and stand together.
An example of how the SF Rebels walk this talk: after the COVID-19 pandemic hit San Francisco, we modified our programming to meet the needs of our players and their communities. We provided safe, socially distanced basketball training. We implemented case management and mentoring programs, and we partnered with Everybody Reads to host a Literacy Day and several book giveaways. We started offering a chess club, fitness classes for girls, tutoring, and workshops in poetry, drama, arts, and hair braiding. At the height of the pandemic, our players and staff packed and delivered groceries and meal boxes for elders in San Francisco’s Western Addition and Hunters Point neighborhoods, and we have continued to do so once per week.
Michelle Hummel’s kids Soren and Emerson have been active SF Rebels participants for over eight years. Michelle says, “we live far from our family in the Midwest, so we treat our local community as family. This is more than just basketball. The SF Rebels community has provided us with an active schedule of competitive basketball, team community service, and lifelong friends.”
SF Rebels player Ray John Spears had this to say: “I’ve played for the Rebels since I was five years old. The Rebels have always treated myself and my siblings as family. The love we receive from the coaches and staff is unmatched. The things they do for players off the court are what are the most impressive. When I had a hard day at home, Coach Nate came over and sat with me, heard me out, and helped me to redirect myself.”
SF Rebels alumni Amir Dias is one of our most recent major success stories. Earlier this year, Amir was accepted into the prestigious Air Force JROTC Flight Academy’s Chief of Staff Private Pilot Scholarship Program. Nearly 1,350 cadets nationwide applied for the Flight Program, and Amir was one of 230 cadets who were accepted. The Flight Academy is intended to inspire and encourage high school youth to pursue aviation careers, and cadets who successfully complete the program will attain Private Pilot Certification. We are so proud of Amir — the sky is literally the limit for him!
Nate Ford, our Founder and Executive Director, has been serving children and families in San Francisco for over 30 years. His passion for seeing kids succeed, doing something they love, and supporting each other on and off the court ignites all of the staff at SF Rebels to bring his vision to life. A testament to Nate and our staff’s work: in May of 2021, the Golden State Warriors and Warriors Basketball Academy named SF Rebels one of six national finalists for their Junior NBA Program of the Year Award!
Nate says: “The last couple of years have been filled with a multitude of challenges and victories. We have faced insurmountable obstacles, created new ways to engage, laughed, cried, and mourned, doing it all together, as the SF Rebels Team that we are.”
