Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times
Tyrone Riley is worried. He is a basketball coach and a father, and he is witnessing firsthand the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic on youth sports in America.
He describes it as a tragedy.
Riley is the coach of the boys’ varsity team at Jordan High School in Watts, one of the hardest parts of South Los Angeles. He graduated from Jordan, grew up in one of the housing projects nearby, and went on to succeed in college basketball and then in European pro leagues.
He knows to his core the power that sports can have in changing lives and bringing communities together.