Hugely popular midnight basketball program returns to Detroit after hiatus

DETROIT – After the mass shooting at a Detroit After a block party earlier this month, Toson Knight, founder and director of Caught Up Mentoring, decided to revive a program that had been dormant for months under a new name: Midnight Basketball.

“We changed the name to Midnight Basketball so people know you can come here, you can stay here all night if you want, just play basketball, stay out of trouble and we’re going to feed you,” Knight said.

Last Saturday night (July 13), about 35 young people showed up, including Freeman Self.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Self said. “It brings everyone together. It keeps people out of trouble.”

And that’s precisely the point.

“It’s like welcoming, and everyone is so happy because everyone is doing what they like,” said 16-year-old Cord’e Theus. “They’re playing basketball.”

He said there was no drama.

“It might be a bit of trash talking because it’s just basketball, but at the end of the day they shake hands, kick each other’s ass and eat together,” Theus said.

Knight believes this can be an example for other groups in the community.

“I really want to partner with different churches to do that,” Knight said. “But this is something we’re going to continue to do, especially over the summer, because obviously young people want different outlets, and we have different things here. It’s not just basketball.”

Click here for more information about Caught Up Mentoring.