Do you know how to tell if a basketball is properly inflated? How often do you consider how Newton’s Laws of Motion are on display when a player passes, runs, dribbles and shoots?
The Texas Legends rank at the top of the class with interactive, educational programs and community outreach efforts to support Frisco students and families. At the core of the Legends’ focus on education is STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Partnerships such as the Science of Basketball presented by Raytheon put STEM in the spotlight and show students the connections between what happens on the court and what happens in the classroom.
Science on Display
Innovation Row, located in the East concourse of Dr Pepper Arena, displays interactive stations for kids to try out, have fun and learn a little about math and science.
Kids love the Bernoulli Blower station. A stream of air pressure creates a lightweight ball to hover and kids get to take aim to try to get the ball into the basketball hoop.
Get a first-hand opportunity to compare shoe and hand sizes with Dallas Maverick legend, Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk’s wingspan is on display for fans to see how they measure up and consider which basketball position they might be suited for one day.
Take a shot at figuring out your best angle at the Free Throw Launch Angle station. Parents and children of all ages indulge their curiosity to check out the Standing Reach station where you can see how your standing reach compares to LeBron James, Edurado Najera, and Spud Webb.
School Field Trips for The Legends
In addition to the STEM enrichment experiences inside the arena, the Science of Basketball presentation takes to the road reaching thousands of students in their own classrooms.
Laura Hyatt spent more than 20 years as a corporate trainer and K – 12 educator and witnessed first hand the impact the Legends can have on children. The Texas Legends brought their Science of Basketball presentation to Hyatt’s campuses when she was the STEM Sr. Director for Legacy Preparatory Charter Academy School District. Hyatt, now Chief Strategist a Social Impact Strategies shared,
They engaged with our students in multiple grade levels and talked about some of the science and mathematics in the game of basketball. The presentations are participatory and the students try different activities. It’s always exciting when there is a unique connection between a community stakeholder, their business, and education.
Texas Legends’ staff and President and General Manager, Malcolm Farmer, host short education videos to work that math muscle! Pop Quiz Science of Math question: Knowing that the diameter of a regulation basketball is 9 inches, work to figure out the circumference, then measure to decide how many of those basketballs can fit into an 18-inch regulation rim.
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The Legends’ education programs allow kids to see and understand that community members outside of school are interested in their futures, interested in math and science and how fun it is to connect it with the sport of basketball.
Laura Hyatt says the Science of Basketball opens a door for students to see science and mathematics in another light, which is a bonus that students enjoy and school staff members appreciate.
Mission of the Month
A recent addition to the Legends’ library of programs to support kids and education in Frisco is The Mission of the Month, sponsored by Legacy Plumbing.
Built on Legacy Plumbing’s existing efforts, Mission of the Month is a platform for local non-profits, which will rotate on a monthly basis. Each month, the Texas Legends will post lists of items and help needed for a non-profit. Items will be collected throughout the month at the Texas Legends Owners Club meetings and events.
Just in time for the back to school season, August’s Mission of the Month collection directly benefitted students within Frisco Independent School District. The Legends’ mission collected and delivered school supplies to FISD Title 1 schools.
For a list of items being collected each month, visit www.TexLegends.com/missionofthemonth.
Coming up in the Fall, the Legends will declare a game as FISD Night. All performances before and during the games that evening feature Frisco ISD students. The school district uses a link to promote ticket sales for the game and the Legends give back 100% of those purchases back to Frisco ISD.
Driving the Community Forward
The Texas Legends continue to partner up with powerful businesses to help reach students and schools. One partner who incorporates a corporate concept of problem-solving into community enrichment is Toyota.
Ana Meade, Senior Manager of Community Connections at Toyota Motor North America, gave us insight into ways they work to problem solve in the health industry as well as within education on a local level. The Toyota Production Systems Support Center (TSSC) has partnered with Children’s Health to improve patient safety and care.
Toyota’s education community partnerships empower students and educators to learn and succeed. Employees take their skills to schools to train local high school teachers how to project manage. Engineers from Toyota volunteer their time to work with students and teachers to transfer their skills and knowledge within the community. Meade says,
The Texas Legends have an asset in their facilities and the fact that they gather groups of business leaders together. It gives us, as Toyota, a platform to aid and support the community here, locally. Toyota and the Texas Legends have an amazing partnership because we can bring all our assets together to solve problems.
That very sentiment really sums up why the Texas Legends go above and beyond to make education a priority – to use basketball to help bring families and businesses together to make our communities better.
