LYNN — Fred Hogan and Simmie Anderson want to protect the streets of Lynn, and the way they can best accomplish that goal is to do what they know best: play basketball.
Hogan is a former girls coach at Lynn English who was an assistant and, for a time, interim head coach at Swampscott High.
Anderson is a former Lynn high school player who is an assistant at Classical. Both have run numerous summer tournaments in the city.
“We did this last year with a theme of ‘stop the violence,’ ” said Hogan. “This year we want to do a community awareness tournament.”
Wednesday, at Marshall Middle School, the “Protect Our Streets” tournament taps off at 4:30 p.m. with a game involving seventh and eighth graders from Lynn. Basketball fans can stay at Marshall right up until 9:30, when the last game ends.
The theme, said Hogan, is East Lynn vs. West Lynn, and all the teams are set up in that fashion. They go seventh and eighth, ninth, women’s division, high school boys and adult men. The games are spaced an hour apart.
In all, 80 players will participate, and all are from Lynn.
The games are not MIAA-sanctioned, he said. However, Hogan says the uniforms are of high-school caliber. They’re more than just T-shirts and workout shorts.
“We spent a lot of money on uniforms,” said Hogan. “We have real high school uniforms, with the players’ names on the back. Plus, we have awards and trophies.
Hogan said the tournament was supposed to be held last week, but the uniforms weren’t shipped to them on time.
The motivation is, as always, to keep some of the boys and girls in Lynn in a positive environment.
“Putting 80 players out here is pretty exciting,” he said. “Someone can go to the Marshall School at 4:30 and stay there all night and watch.
“We have a lot of basketball junkies in Lynn,” Hogan said. “Lynn is a big basketball city.”
Hogan is especially excited about the women who have come back to play.
Included are Diondra Woumn, Lashaunda Hogan, and Deidra Newson from the team that won the Division 1 North championship and went to the Boston Garden four years ago; along with Jennie Duggins, Jeanette Anderson, Renay Hamilton, Kirsten Ferrari, Kayla Murkison, Taneka Brown, Ebony White, Christina McKenzie, Ashlynn Babb, Cheneysse Hill and Jessica French.
Current high school players slated to play include Jalen Johnson, Jalen Echevarria, Dyrell Rucker, Erick and Edwin Solis, Alonzo Linton, Ademide Badmus, Abraham Diaz, Marvens Rosirus, Javonte Edwards, Javaris Hill, Treavuon Baldwin, Robert Wallace, Jeffrey Barboza and Josh Perez.
Men coming back to play include Jasper Grassa, Alvin Abreu, Jarell Byrd, Antonio Anderson, Keandre Stanton, Paul Beckons, Travonne Berry-Rogers, Quincy Imadiyi, Tony Gallo, Marcus Echevarria, Corey Bingham, Kyle Doucette, Dorien Brown, Peter Mafo, Victor Smith and Freddy Hogan Jr.
