Sports have always been an important part of the Red Hook community. Melvin Goddard has been helping kids in the neighborhood reach their potential in sports.
Goddard coaches basketball players ages 6-10 on his team, the Biddybros. He has also organized flag football and softball events in Red Hook. His partner Karl Sanders, who played college basketball for St. Francis (NY) coaches older kids in basketball.
“I grew up in Red Hook playing basketball all the time and I fell in love with it,” said Goddard. “Then for a few years I fell out of love with it but coaching and seeing these kids improve has made me fall in love with the game again.”
Goddard played basketball for the Visitation Hawks in Red Hook and at John Jay High School in Park Slope.
“My high school coach said to me ‘you’re a fine leader and one day you’re going to be a fine coach,’ and that really resonated with me,” Goddard said. “I used to just give pointers to kids in the neighborhood. Then from there we threw a block party and I saw that we had a bunch of talent and after that, I was able to start putting a team together and that’s how I started coaching.”
One of the toughest parts of coaching has been getting funding for the kids to have uniforms.
“I don’t want the parents to have to worry about paying so I’ve been doing it the cheapest way I can,” Goddard said. “I take a lot out of my own pocket and light donations from my friends have helped.
“For example, I put on a one-day tournament in the park for my team and three other teams. I got the refs to come in and I had a friend buy pizza for all the kids. I went to a store called Kidstown and I bought shirts for $2, shorts for $3, and then I went to my print guy who I’ve known for 20 years and he only charged me $3 to print the numbers on each shirt. So I was able to give each kid a uniform for $8, so it only ended up being $80 and I was able to pay for it out of my own pocket.”
Anyone who wants to donate can email Goddard at [email protected] or search for Melvin Goddard on Facebook and Instagram.
An additional problem for Goddard is that it’s often very expensive to enter his team in tournaments.
“I want to put my kids in four different tournaments this summer,” Goddard said. “Kyrie Irving’s tournament in the Bronx for 8-year-olds costs $425 to enter and $35 per game for referees. So it adds up to a lot. There are other tournaments that are even more expensive. Right now I’m finishing up this grant from the mayor’s office called the Safe in the City Grant. I’m putting in for the max which is $10,000 and I’m showing them all of the things I’ve been doing and all of the things we’ll be able to do with that money.”
For Goddard, connections are key as connections have allowed him to get his teams into tournaments that aren’t as expensive.
I also asked Goddard how he came up with his team’s name (Biddybros) and he told me that it has a special meaning.
“The part of the program that’s run by Sanders for older kids is called Brothers Dream,” Goddard said. “His nephew, who he called ‘Brother’ was shot and killed when he was 12-years-old which was around 15 years ago. So everything that we do, we always try to incorporate ‘Brother’ into the team names.”
He also spoke about the importance of making sure kids from Red Hook are able to get opportunities to play sports.
“I want people to know that there are still people in Red Hook trying to do positive things,” Goddard said. “A lot of the kids that are using the soccer and baseball fields aren’t even from Red Hook. I want to make sure that kids from Red Hook have the option to play sports. I really want to help these kids reach their full potential.”
“A lot of the kids that are using the soccer and baseball fields aren’t even from Red Hook
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