A fortuitous consequence of the Woo Way Basketball programming on Riker’s Island for young adults (18-21) has been the authentic bonds formed spontaneously between participants of different ages, races and ethnicities, and, most unpredictably, even opposing gang members (whose rivalries often have fatal implications in-detention and inner-city neighborhoods) – in the name of achieving a shared goal of skill development, game preparation, play.

On Riker’s, we’ve watched rivalries dissolve through the context of the somatic self-regulation and self-development techniques in The Woo Way programming and court-time, and seen participants of rival gangs continue to develop these relationships outside of program-time that becomes a safe space to express vulnerability, sustaining as emotional-life-lines even after they re-enter society.

Observing our participants rejecting street-code foundational to neighborhood division, violence, and crime that perpetuates broken communities, failure of youth to thrive, and recidivism, gives us great hope for a brighter future for each participant as well as healthier, compassionate and collaborative inner city communities.