Special Report

COME PLAY DETROIT / ON THE COVER

Grassroots Effort

Right: Shawn Achtman, 22, and Rob
Antonyan, 26, both of Royal Oak,

Andrew Pellegrino, 22, of Walled Lake,
Eric Bryant, 25, of Farmington Hills and
Russ Young, 23, of Wixom

Below: Justin Jacobs, 27, of Bloomfield
Hills organized Come Play Detroit.

Basketball league
with a cause
creates social
outlet for Jewish
young adults.

Rachel Lachover
Special to the Jewish News

T

he atmosphere at the Thursday
night basketball games is a corn-
bination of passion and intensity;
all the men have a great attitude. The
competition level is strong and the teams
play rough, but knowing that the league
was designed to support Friendship Circle
adds a sense of community for everyone.
These games at Franklin Athletic Club
in Southfield are now an exciting place
to be for Metro Detroit's young adults.
A newly established weekly basketball
league is bringing groups of men together
to enjoy brotherhood and camaraderie
as well the opportunity to raise funds for
West Bloomfield-based Friendship Circle,
which helps children with special needs
and their families.
Under the leadership of Justin Jacobs,

27, a native Detroiter, Come Play Detroit
has formed a basketball league called
"Come Play Detroit in partnership with
The Friendship Circle." More than 100
young adults — the majority Jewish
— have joined to help raise money so far.
After living in Chicago for four years
doing party promotions, Jacobs returned
to Detroit and lives in Bloomfield Hills. He
quickly realized something was signifi-
cantly lacking in his social life here, some-
thing he'd found in other urban areas.
Detroit's void of activities for young adults
needed to be immediately filled.
"The only place I could find that offered
[sports] activities for young Jewish adults
was through the B'nai Brith league, but
they play Sunday mornings at 9 a.m.,"
he said. "This doesn't exactly attract the
recent college graduates and young profes-
sionals that enjoy going out on Saturday
nights."

A Joint Endeavor
From Jacobs' desire to fill the social gap
came the idea of organizing a new bas-
ketball league. Initially, he approached
Friendship Circle's LifeTown Director
Bassie Shemtov to see if they would be
interested in being partners. Going to
Friendship Circle for support was an easy
decision for Jacobs, knowing the entire
community would be enthusiastic about
supporting this cause.
"Justin's sister was a volunteer at
Friendship Circle Shemtov said. "He
was inspired by her passion for kids with
special needs and came up with the cre-
ative idea to form this amazing basketball
league on a philanthropic foundation.
"Friendship Circle is so honored to be
supported by Come Play Detroit. The guys
in this league are great role models for our
teen volunteers. They are a shining exam-
ple of how you can practice selfless giving

in nearly every facet of your life — even
while shooting hoops!"
With Friendship Circle on board, Jacobs
had an easy time finding sponsors to
help with the cost of league fees, referees,
courts and personalized jerseys. Ten local
businesses signed up to sponsor this inau-
gural season.
"I am a supporter of Friendship Circle
said sponsor Steve Goldberg, Stage Deli
owner. "It's the least I could do for them;
this is a great cause
Sponsors support a team named for
their business with their company logo
on the front of jerseys and the Friendship
Circle logo on the back. Sponsorship dues
of $250 are tax-deductible and 60 percent
goes to Friendship Circle.
Sponsors are Bricker-Tunis Furs,
Fringe Salon, Lakes Urgent Care and
the Stage Deli, all in West Bloomfield;
Déjà Vu and Glamour Puss Beauty Bar

Grassroots on page 22

March 11 • 2010

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