'Future Of Tomorrow' Helps Kids Develop Life And Basketball Skills

A Tulsa organization is giving Green Country kids a chance to develop their basketball skills while also preparing them with life skills.

Future of Tomorrow Program Director Jalan Brown had a troubled past that kept him from playing basketball in high school. But his perseverance and talent for the sport got him a scholarship and a chance to play college basketball. He graduated from East Central University with a Bachelors in Kinesiology.

Two weeks before heading to Mexico to try out for a spot on a professional team, he tore his Achilles. So in 2020, he decided to start a local basketball league.

Brown joins us on the Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages Porch to share more about his mission.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the Future of Tomorrow program.

What does the Future of Tomorrow program do?

"What we're offering is a basketball program for youth. We have teams for all ages, essentially. And then we also offer group training. So we have kids that come in that don't necessarily play on a team, but they just come to get their skills up. And then we also offer individual training where it's just me one-on-one with the specific athlete, and we're kind of working on their skills," Brown said.

How many teams are there?

"We actually have 13. So we have second grade boys through 11th grade. And then we also have two girls' teams. Both of our girls pretty much have fifth to sixth grade on one team and the eighth and ninth on the other," Brown explained.

Where are practices held for the program?

"Right now we're practicing at West Clinton Elementary. And then we also use a church, which is about three miles away, West Tulsa Baptist Church. And we're also working with the Tulsa Dream Centers between both of their north and west campus," Brown said.

How would a facility help the program?

"It's been hard with 12 teams trying to work with different gyms to get everybody in. You know, working with the least hours trying to get them in the gym has been tough. So if we get our own facility, it'll make things easier for us to do our group training, basketball practices, et cetera," Brown said.

How has your life influenced this program and the students?

"What I like about basketball, it builds characteristics as far as just work ethics, perseverance, et cetera, just to name a few. And so just the things I went through, it kind of built that in me and molded me as far as like, just learning what adversity is, learning how to persevere through things, learn how to just really do whatever it takes to get to where you want to be. And so essentially, my experience has been able to provide kids with tools and resources to necessarily not have to go through what I went through, and understand that life is easy. And you could just really just focus on basketball and school," Brown said.