Annual golf outing to send basketball players to D.C.

Every three years, players on Sinclair’s Men’s Basketball team are given the opportunity to visit our nation’s capital thanks to the support of the Dayton community.
The trip is part of the team’s Player Enhancement Program (PEP), which is funded through events such as the upcoming “Putts fore Pride” golf outing on August 20.
“Part of the program is we take the guys off site and expose them to stuff other than basketball,” said Men’s Basketball Coach Jeff Price. “They put in a lot of work in their sport and they put in a lot of effort for Sinclair.”
In recent years, the PEP has taken Sinclair players to play and take campus tours at big-name schools like Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania. Players in the program put in close to 500 hours of community service each year and attend presentations preparing them for “life after basketball,” including information to help them advance their academic careers after Sinclair, said Price.
“We’re still trying to win championships, we’re still trying to win ball games, but we also have our eye on the next prize,” said Price. “We tell everybody who comes in here: Sinclair should be part of your journey, it shouldn’t just be your destination.”
Price said that one of the primary goals of the program is to take students to important places outside of Dayton and to inspire players by exposing them to things they otherwise wouldn’t be exposed to.
“You can’t just tell it to them, you have to take them and show them,” said Price.
The next group of students in the PEP program will be visiting Washington, D.C.  The team will be playing the club team at Georgetown University, will tour the Georgetown campus, and will be given a tour of the city. Over the three-day trip, players will see national sites such as the Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorials, the Capitol building and the Supreme Court.
This year’s golf outing to benefit the PEP will take place at Meadowbrook Country Club in Clayton.  The first tee time is at 1 p.m. and lunch and dinner are included.  Players and sponsors who are interested in the event are encouraged to contact Price at 512-2861 as soon as possible. Walk-ins are also welcome the day of the event.
Price said that the basketball team has a good success rate of sending players on to four-years schools, partly because of programs like the PEP trip to Washington, D.C.
“What I’m trying to do is educate and develop young men,” he said.