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Gear 4 Grades
About Gear 4 Grades
Gear 4 Grades, is an educational motivation program for inner-city, high school student athletes which is operated and funded by Shooting Touch, Inc. a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization founded by Justin Kittredge and based in Boston, MA.
Justin and his colleague, Derek Grundy, are the motivational inspiration behind Gear 4 Grades. Both Justin and Derek are former college basketball players, current coaches and mentors, athletic footwear and apparel industry professionals. With their passion for the game of basketball at an all time high, Justin and Derek found themselves consistently inspired to design a program that creates a way to give back to student athletes who are too often overlooked, young men and women who deserve to be rewarded and recognized for their hard work. With this premise in mind, the Gear 4 Grades program was born.
Through the Gear 4 Grades program, Shooting Touch, Inc. will donate various kinds of basketball apparel, footwear, equipment and school supplies ("gear") to the basketball teams of those inner city high schools that exhibit academic excellence and achievement in the classroom as well as support and service in their respective communities. Too often high school basketball programs are rewarded with high quality gear and equipment only because they happen to have high level, elite athletes on their team. The common belief of, “the better the players, the better the gear”, sends the wrong message to today’s young and impressionable athletes. It shows them that they will be rewarded for athletic success only which results in a student athlete concentrating on developing the “athlete” part of the equation, in spite of the “student” part of the equation. This, of course, leads to imbalance.
Our point of view is simple; we will reward these student athletes for their successes on the court, in the classroom, and in their respective communities. The more our student athletes accomplish and improve themselves to strive to be complete individuals, the greater the chance for them to receive our rewards. Shooting Touch, Inc. through its Gear 4 Grades program is excited to challenge these young student athletes to be multi-faceted individuals and provide them with purposeful incentives to achieve great things on and off the court.
Shooting Touch, Inc. will work in tandem with each participating high school's administrative office and basketball coaches to facilitate the Gear 4 Grades program and distribute gear accordingly.
Overall mission of Gear 4 Grades:
- Give student athletes a tangible, motivational incentive for academic achievement
- Provide higher quality athletic apparel, footwear, equipment, and to teams as a reward for their achievement in the classroom and community
- Drive home the message that success in academics will provide rewards both on and off the court
- Provide a fun way to reinforce the importance of academics and community involvement
- Enhance leadership skills
- Increase the amount of responsibility and accountability that each player has towards their teammates
- Mentor young athletes and show them what/who they can achieve by being well-rounded individuals
- Provide opportunities for teams to participate in community service programs, educational seminars, and job shadowing programs
How it works: The program is based on a point system which encourages good behavior on and off the court.
At the end of the basketball season, 2ndQ, the team average is taken and rewarded accordingly.
Reward products:
- ST/G4G notebooks, binders, pens, and planners (to keep them reminded of their goals!)
- ST/G4G t-shirts
- Head bands
- Shooting shirts
- Team bags
- Team basketballs
- Team footwear
- Opportunity for team shopping trip (ie. $25 gift card to various stores such as Xpressions, Champs, FL, etc)
Launch/Growth Strategy
The initial phase of the Gear 4 Grades program will target (4) high schools: (1) in Providence, RI and (3) in Boston, MA.
By year two, we will target one high school in each New England state.
In year three, we will include New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey within the program.
The opportunity for growth can easily be replicated and translate into other sports. Sponsors will be various sporting goods companies that donate reward products and/or companies that wish to donate toward the purchase of reward products.
Shooting Touch, Inc., through the Gear 4 Grades program, will create and execute an aggressive public relations campaign, in which all sponsors will always be featured and highlighted.
The Gear 4 Grades program is protected and can only be executed under the Shooting Touch, Inc. brand. For partnership/sponsorship information, please email lkittredge@shootingtouch.com.
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Gear 4 Grades
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