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LET'S TALK ABOUT PRACTICE

'PRACTICE! Practice! Not a game, practice!" Six years later, Allen Iverson's career-defining quote still pops up on Sportscenter or in daily cultural references.

'P

RACTICE! Practice! Not a game, practice!"

Six years later, Allen Iverson's career-defining quote still pops up on Sportscenter or in daily cultural references.

Six years later, Allen Iverson's career-defining quote still pops up on Sportscenter or in daily cultural references.

And, like AI, yes, I'm talking about practice, but not as an evil to be avoided, but as an opportunity. I'm talking about practice because, for thousands of kids, the word has little significance.

Though they see sports on TV, listen to music on the radio or play games at home, they have no chance to practice with their peers. To them, practice is something suburban moms on a television show take their kids to via minivan. To them, practice is something Brian Westbrook sits out so he can be ready to dominate on Sundays.

Practice. It's time to talk about practice and where it went.

Philadelphia once had a thriving youth-sports and cultural-organization network. Those of us who preceded the present practice-less generation remember games played at our local rec centers with hopes of taking on teams from Feltonville or West Philly. We remember practice and the time spent with our friends and teammates under the direction of volunteer coaches, usually a few our parents.

Thankfully, some parts of the city still have good organizations. We are lucky in my community of Fishtown to be one of them. Across the city, thousands of kids are currently involved in sports, arts and drama and other community-based cultural organizations thanks to the dedicated volunteers who help bring them this opportunity.

Unfortunately, a disproportionately larger number of kids don't have the chance to participate. For them, practice is limited to rumor and a dream that one day they too can experience the thrill of being part of a team or performing in a play.

They never have the chance to learn from an adult who isn't their teacher or parent. They don't have a coach. They never get the chance to compete against kids from other communities. Though they may go to an after-school program, nothing happens for them after after-school.

As we see every day, violence, drugs and street life without a future have gripped our young people in Philadelphia.

Everyone from the political pundit on TV to the guy you get the paper from will tell you the reasons for these problems. While these reasons vary depending on who you speak with, one big theme is that these kids need positive things to do.

In Philadelphia, the opportunity for our kids to participate in these activities is slowly becoming extinct. For 10 or 15 years, once-proud community organizations that kept thousands of kids and families busy with positive things to do, from dance to sports to scouting, have been washed away by a tide of dwindling volunteers and a city that failed to recognize the important role these groups played in the social fabric.

It's a sad testament to social change when 30-year-olds start talking about how it used to be back in our day when we could play ball against kids from other parts of the city or how fun it was to go camping with scouts from West and North Philadelphia.

You might say that these kids would rather play video games, or that their parents don't care enough to offer them this opportunity, and that any effort to bring back these activities is futile.

Sadly, this theory seems to be the prevailing wisdom as once-proud organizations folded because of rising costs and disappearing volunteers.

And rather than afford these volunteer organizations the support they deserved, government has starved them. It's time for the city to reverse course. And time for it to realize the incredible asset we have in the Recreation Department and Fairmount Park as a means to afford all of our neighborhoods the resources to engage our youth in positive, life-altering activities.

We must commit to re-establishing volunteer organizations in all of our neighborhoods, from Kensington to Francisville to Southwest Philadelphia.

WE MUST FUND them. We must use city resources to help them grow. Evidence from a legion of studies as well as common sense shows us that early intervention with positive programs not only works, but saves society money in the long run. Let's use common sense. Let's bring our vacant ballfields to life. Let's bring back the team jackets we used to see kids wearing - the ones that we all wanted. Let's bring back the community drama club.

We've failed a large portion of the 15-to-25-year-olds in this city. Philadelphia didn't give them a chance to practice or play as they should have. Let's not fail this generation. Practice. Let's talk about practice. *

Contact A.J. Thomson at

ajthomson175@hotmail.com.