Above: Brent Pottenger with former Sacramento Kings player, Tyus Edney (and his son)

"You have to have a backup plan," shared one student-athlete this past weekend at GPACompton.

Game Plan Academy (GPA) opened camp this past Saturday in Compton, California (Los Angeles). Over the past few months, my brother, Kai Pottenger, and I have worked collaboratively with the Compton Unified School District, Revolution Test Prep, and the University of Southern California to create a small pilot program for male and female basketball players at Dominguez, Centennial, and Compton high schools. The goal of GPA is to provide students (for free) with personalized and professional academic and athletic mentorship services that they may not normally have access to, including SAT/ACT test prep materials and tutoring. The hope is that this coupling of sports and education will help empower and motivate students to pursue their higher education and career goals. Sports are great vehicles for broad human development, but the reality of "life after athletics" means that youth need support and encouragement with their studies too. In the classroom in Compton, students understood this dynamic quite well, expressing their intentions to integrate and balance basketball with their school work in order to go to college and prepare for life after basketball: "I'm going to keep playing basketball as long as possible and see how far that takes me. But, I'm also going to keep going to class so that I can eventually run my own business one day too," said one student perceptively. This is the type of feedback that captures the spirit of GPA. As a former student-athlete myself, I can attest to the power that athletics can play in driving positive performance in other domains like school, business, community, family, and, as we at GPA like to say, "the game of life." After finishing their time preparing for college in the classroom, students enjoyed playing basketball under Tyus Edney's professional guidance in the Dominguez High School gymnasium. Tyus stressed fundamentals in dribbling, defense, and shooting, teaching students the tricks-of-the-trade that he has picked up over the past few decades while playing collegiately at UCLA and then professionally in the NBA and overseas. Next week, Kevin Cutler -- "The Big Whistle" -- will lead the basketball portion of GPA. Tyus will return during the final week of GPACompton to work with these students again. I am thankful for all those who are volunteering their time as part of the GPA team to make this effort possible. We're off to a great start in Los Angeles!

Meanwhile, GPASacramento enters Week Three this Sunday, May 16th, at Hiram Johnson High School. Camp runs from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM if anyone in the community wants to come out and watch GPA in action, featuring former NFL players: Gio Carmazzi, Alex Van Dyke, and Lyle West!

To learn more about Game Plan Academy (GPA), a nonprofit program, please visit: www.gameplanacademy.com