Thank you to everyone who supports The Winston-Salem Stealers Scholarship Program.
By Regina Baity (9/23/21)
Dear Coach Robinson and the Stealers Program,
I want to sincerely thank you for the opportunities that my children were given through the scholarship program for players who are from families of a lower economic status. I am a mom of five children, four of whom played for the Stealers and the Twin City Jazz through the years of 2011-2017. Heaven Walters was my first daughter who played for the Stealers. She began playing as a 7th grader. My next two daughters begin playing a couple of years later, Miracle Walters and Alisha Baity, who were also 7th graders when they began playing with the Stealers. When the Twin City Jazz began, my son Aaron Baity was a 4th grader. He too wanted to participate in travel basketball. With three girls playing on college showcase teams and now my son wanting to play as well, it was more expensive than our family could afford. I was working as a teacher at that time, trying to make ends meet, and to provide my children with the opportunities that so desired to be a part, which was travel basketball.
My girls tried out for teams that year and we set up a meeting with Coach Robinson to talk about which team they would be playing on, or so I thought. What really happened in that meeting blew our family away. First of all, I had no idea the cost per player per season, which is very reasonable for a medium income family of one or maybe even two children. However, with four children playing at the time, I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to pay for them to play the sport that they loved so much! Coach Robinson proceeded to share with me about the scholarship program which would pay a portion of their fees. I was so relieved and excited for my children. I had already decided that I would not be able to afford such a high class program for them until that point.
They loved playing for the Stealers. Aaron played from 4th-7th grade. He developed the skills he wanted to play in middle school and ended up starting for his middle school teams at Starmount Middle in Boonville and Meadowview Middle in Mt. Airy. Alisha gained important skills to play all the way through high school. She loved playing for the Stealers and for Forbush High School, where her team was the conference champs her senior year.
Heaven and Miracle both played with Stealers all the way through high school. Heaven and Miracle both gained skills through the Stealers that helped them both become 1,000 point scorers in high school. Heaven set a record at Starmount High School for most points ever scored in a single game, which is 46 points. She was most valuable player both her junior and senior years and made all conference those years as well. Miracle was voted as conference player of the year in her senior year and made all conference three years. Both were recruited by Coach Stephanie Flamini of Guilford College in Greensboro. Both were blessed to play there together during Miracle’s freshman year and Heaven’s senior year. In 2017, the year they played there together, they were first in their conference and won the ODAC championship. They both played all four years at Guilford and loved every minute of it. They developed lifelong friendships and gained a valuable education that was worth more than $200,000 each.
Without Coach Robinson and the Stealers program, my children would have not been so successful in basketball and life. They were provided opportunities from a program with high standards and an eye for dedicated and talented players. Coach Robinson provided many information sessions about how to become a successful basketball player. He would provide both group and individual sessions regarding my children’s skills and abilities as well as the possibilities that were available to them beyond high school.
They learned many other skills besides basketball, such as self -discipline and respect for self and others. They learned to prioritize and wait their turn. They were not always the starters on the team. There were times when all of my children were second off the bench or were at the end of the bench. Through it all, they have all become successful adults. I feel that Stealers played a huge role in helping to mold them into that success.
Heaven is now and occupational therapist. She graduated from Guilford College and obtained her masters in occupational therapy and is specialized in hand therapy. She is now in her twenties and is working for Yadkin Valley Home Health serving patients to help them regain strength in their hands and small muscles.
Miracle is a bio-medical engineer now working for a pharmaceutical company in Raleigh, N.C. She graduated from Guilford College and obtained her masters in bio-medical engineering from NC State University and UNC Chapel Hill.
Alisha is social worker with a masters degree in social work from UNC-G. She works for Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem, NC in the burn unit.
Aaron is a successful junior in high school and is attending online at this time. He is interested in cyber security when he graduates high school and plans on attending Forsyth Technical College’s cyber security three year program.
It all started with the Winston-Salem Stealers scholarship program!!!
Thank you Coach Robinson and to everyone who supports The Winston-Salem Stealers Scholarship Program! We will be forever grateful to everyone for being able to participate!!!
Sincerely,
Regina Walters- Baity
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