This summer Brooklyn Stompers came for just about everything people said they couldn’t have and they took it.
The Stompers consists of many of the top players from all over the borough of Brooklyn have taken high school division championships all over the city. From Rucker Park to West 4th, to Lincoln Park in Queens and recently Dyckman, the Stompers have collected hardware all over the city. This team had to go through some of the best high school division teams to win the championship. At Lincoln Park, they defeated Positive direction in the Semis and OTN In the chip both of those teams were very stacked. At Dyckman, the BK Stompers went the whole summer 2019 season undefeated and had to beat the 2018 champs “The Program” in the semis and another undefeated team in Team Tracey to win the chip.
As coach head Coach Ronnie Francis of the BK Stompers puts it he’s very glad his team steps up when it matters most. “
“It feels good that we were able to win these games. With how talented they are they still need to learn some things, we had some close calls but they were able to pull them out.
Highlights of the 2019 Lincoln Park Classic Championship Brooklyn Stompers vs Team OTN
Kadary Richmond winning Lincoln Park Classic Player of The Year honors
The duo of South Shore grads Kadary Richmond and Femi Odukale have played a huge roll in their championship run winning championship after championship just fueled their fire to win even more. “Every day I feel more and more like a winner” states Kadary Richmond. “Whenever I wake up my feel more determined to win”.
Richmond and Odukale have been a part of the Brooklyn Stompers for years and on August 29th it was the second championship game they ever played in at Dyckman. In 2017, they played in the chip game against Skull gang and lost a tough one at the buzzer at the time they had to play behind guys such as Donald Flores and Sekou Sylla.
Many players would have found another team to play for but they waited their turn and it paid off. As Femi Odukale states waiting their turn was worth it in the end. “ When we made the chip the first time, we were younger we didn’t get much playing time so we couldn’t showcase our talent but by the time we got more playing time we already knew what it took to win”. In addition to winning championships, Odukale and Richmond have been racking up MVP and player of the year honors all over the city this summer. Femi has won the championship MVP at Gersh Park and Lincoln Park. Richmond won the MVP at Dyckman, POY honors at Lincoln Park and Nike Player of the Year.
South Shore Grad Femi Odukale took the Lincoln Park championship game MVP after the 63-57 win over Team OTN on August 25th.
For coach Francis, winning their second championship at Dyckman is a major accomplishment in their long history playing in the tournament. I asked him how he would compare winning the championship on August 29th to the one in 2016 against Tenth Ave and he personally feels that the 2016 championship was more special. “ it’s hard to compare this win with the 10th Avenue one because Back then Tenth ave had about five or more top 100 players in the country and we had was Keith Williams and Ray Salnave and a ton of great role players that played hard.” says Francis.
Summer 2019 was a successful one for the Brooklyn Stompers when it comes to the next goal it’s simple, the goal for the Brooklyn Stompers is to keep building. “We are always looking to build and grow the program and continue to be competitive. I don’t promise to win championships but we are always in the conversation”. Ronnie also wants to continue to bring new players on his squad. “I am always looking to break in new players which is something that I take pride in”.
The summer of 2019 may go down as one of the best in Brooklyn Stompers history, and there is no stop in sight for them look for them to continue their rich history of winning tournaments all over the city.
Hoop Dreams NYC 
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