Transforming Communities Through the Game
How former pro Kareem South turned personal grief into a movement using basketball, storytelling, and the power of the huddle.
This article is based on a International Coaches Connect webinar with Kareem South, founder of IAWA - “I Am Because We Are”.
When Kareem South was asked what first drove him toward community work, he paused and returned to a question posed to him years earlier by a mentor: What is the fire of your heart? For South, a former Division I athlete at Cal and a professional player in Canada's CEBL, that fire was ignited not on the court, but by tragedy.
"I lost two childhood friends — twin brothers — to gun violence in the neighborhood we grew up in together. We went to school since kindergarten. Played on the same basketball teams until high school." - Kareem South
The deaths, separated by years but connected by grief, marked a turning point. South describes the second loss as the moment he felt led to dedicate his energy to uplifting youth and families affected by violence in Scarborough, Ontario. Combining a public health background from his studies with the cultural currency of his basketball career, he began building bridges where few existed.
The Huddle Model
South's most practical tool was deceptively simple: an "Impact Huddle" embedded within a standard basketball camp format. Alongside typical skill stations, one station became a talking circle, a basketball passed around as a talking stick, where youth discussed leadership, identity, mental health, and what it means to be a change-maker in their own community.
Parents, community elders, and healthcare professionals were eventually invited in, turning a Saturday morning basketball program into something far richer. "It created a sense of cohesion and harmony amongst the group," South reflected, "without removing the intensity of the sport programming."
The insights gathered through those huddles grew into documentary short films. One focused directly on the loss of his two friends, gathering pastors, faith leaders, and families impacted by violence to wrestle openly with how to combat it together.
A Coach's Question from Kibera
South's model resonated immediately with coaches on the call none more pointedly than a coach from Kenya who runs a girls' basketball program in Kibera, one of Nairobi's largest slums. His question cut to the heart of what community coaching actually demands.
How do you cope when you want to bring change to your community, you've got a family to take care of, and then there are girls who come to you with significant needs? Some of their parents are rarely home. A girl comes and tells me she's unwell and needs to go to hospital. I'm worried that if I don't help, someone might take advantage of her situation. But I don't have many people willing to walk this journey with me. - Coach from Kibera, Kenya
This is a question of capacity. We all have limits. It speaks to something we all need to think about. Imagine a team. Every position plays a different role to accomplish the mission. In the same way, in a community, we need to understand what our specific role is. We can't do it all alone. I believe in the power of delegation, being able to provide people with pathways to receiving what they need, even if it's not directly from you. Someone else may be positioned to provide that solution.
Storytelling As Strategy
South is equally emphatic about the role of media in community transformation. "If there's no story being told," he argued, "how can anyone find you to support you?" He encourages coaches at every level to start simply, a phone camera, a social post, a lived moment captured and shared. Treat storytelling as both an art and a science: study what resonates, iterate, and keep going.
"Media is really about shifting the narrative. Capturing stories to amplify our reach, our impact, and inviting people into the solution." - Kareem South
Building Partnerships
South has secured government grants from the City of Toronto, partnered with the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, and worked with faith-based organizations and sport leagues alike. His philosophy is synergy: identify what each partner uniquely brings, and build something greater than any one of them could accomplish alone. "Figure out what you can do to bring more people together," he said, "and achieve a larger goal that invites people into what you've been led to build."
For the coaches on the call from Kibera, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and beyond South's story was both an encouragement and a blueprint. You don't need a grant or a film crew to start. You need a question, a basketball, and the willingness to huddle.
