Brotherly Love Pro-Am League finds a new home in Philly

The Brotherly Love Pro-Am League has found a new home in Philly for the summer.

Starting Saturday, the six-week summer basketball league will be played at Penn Charter.

Run by Philadelphia native Novar Gadson, who plays professional basketball in Japan, the Brotherly Love Pro-Am Foundation is a nonprofit that spreads awareness of mental health in the form of basketball and community engagement.

“They embraced the mission and initiative behind our foundation,” Gadson said of Penn Charter. “They understood there’s a bigger cost than dribbling the basketball. … Very, very thankful for the Penn Charter family for opening up the doors long-term and to extend our impact to multiple communities across the Philadelphia area."

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While basketball is at the forefront of the pro-am, the role that it has in addressing mental health is the driving force behind it all.

“As I transition into my post-career I wanted to give back to the city. I’m a big giver,” Gadson said. “I care about everyone around me. I feel like it’s my calling from Christ to help people and wanted to create a foundation and platform that dives straight into opportunity for people.

“The biggest passion behind this thing is the initiative behind mental health with my struggles with the death of my brother and my mother’s illness. With food insecurities and homelessness, this is my biggest vision behind creating this platform, and I’m using basketball as a vehicle to drive more people toward the awareness of mental health.”

The Brotherly Love Pro-Am is partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Aetna Health, Healthy Minds Philly, Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health, Intellectual Disability Services, and It Takes a Village to Feed One Child. These organizations will conduct health checks for spectators, staff, youth, players, and coaches.

“Opening night we have about three health companies coming out and doing free health screenings and paying people $40 to $50 to check their health,” Gadson said.

“Some licensed therapists will be on-site to have people sign up for weekly, monthly, or yearly assistance because we want to encourage more people to get out and get help with all the mental health that people endure on a daily basis, whether it’s work, parenting, or trauma.”

The foundation’s reach isn’t exclusive to America.

“I’ve done two mental health clinics in Japan where I service about 60 to 90 kids each time,” Gadson said. “Japan was one of the highest countries in the world with suicide, which aligns with mental health.

“We’re doing a lot of stuff outside of the sport and I want people to understand that, yeah the basketball stuff is good. It’s easy. You put some well-known athletes in some uniforms and food and music in the gym, but what we’re doing is way bigger than a sport.”

Meanwhile on the court, anyone who is looking to get involved may run into notable players at Penn Charter. The league has gotten support from NBA players such as Bones Hyland, Montrezl Harrell, Collin Gillespie, Mac McClung, and Quinn Cook. Robert Battle, the former Drexel star who played professionally in Argentina, has transitioned into a leadership role with the foundation, educating people on how to manage their finances.

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“[The support from NBA players] means that we’re doing something right,” Gadson said. “I’m a very, very detailed guy, but I also understand that for something to grow up to this magnitude, we need involvement.

“A lot of families can’t afford to take their kids to every NBA game. It’s kind of like community service for these guys and all the personnel that ever competed in a Brotherly Love uniform. It’s a blessing for them to touch the community.”

Admission tickets are $10. The league has 22 teams total, with 12 men’s teams, six women’s teams, and now four youth teams, which are new to the pro-am.

Brotherly Love is home to the only women’s summer pro-am league in Philadelphia.

“The Drew League has always been super popular. Where’s the women’s version?” Battle said of the pro-am in Los Angeles. “It’s important across the nation for women to have that ability to come home and play in a pro-am with people who are on their level, and it’d be under the whistle so they can stay sharp.”

However, despite all the good that the Brotherly Love Pro-Am Foundation has done so far, there’s still plenty of work to be done.

“I think I would hope to see a bigger reach [in the future],” Battle said. “I will hope that we have a permanent home … I would like to see more notoriety in terms like, ‘Hey, Philly has one of the best pro-ams in the nation.’ That would be amazing.”