The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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6 THE WOLVERINE ❱ SEPTEMBER 2023 THE BIG PICTURE ❱ Men's Basketball Gives Back, Makes Trip To Mott Children's Hospital On Aug. 9, the U-M men's basketball team and its head coach, Juwan Howard, visited patients at Mott Children's Hospital. The two- hour visit was held in the Michigan Game Day Experience center on the eighth floor, a designated indoor playground for patients and families during their stays. The team's visit plans date back to before the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed the event back. Members of several athletics pro- grams have been back to Mott since, but this was the first team visit since the pandemic in March 2020. Highlights from the visit included Howard rebounding and coach- ing a girl on her jump shot and sophomore Youssef Khayat meeting a family from his home country of Lebanon. Michigan From The Heart, a nonprofit organization sup- porting Mott patients, hosts groups of U-M athletes each Thursday night in similar types of visits. The treks to the hospital "offer a welcome distraction by spending time with patients and families," according to its website. "Pa- tients are then given the op- portunity to watch the ath- letes in action by attending University of Michigan sport- ing events as special guests of the team." Michigan From The Heart has 12 season tickets to men's basketball games and often brings patients to Crisler Cen- ter for games. Howard has been active in the community this offsea- son, also hosting a cost-free youth basketball camp in early August at Renaissance High School in Detroit. He was joined at the camp by former NBA All-Star Derrick Cole- man, who starred at Detroit Northern while Howard was at Michigan. More than 100 kids attended the camp. "I once was them," Howard told CBS Detroit. "And I never forget the time, being a little kid, growing up in the inner city, and I would love to get — not only a college athlete or college coach but profes- sionals — a chance and an opportunity to meet them, touch them and see exactly what it's like being on that big stage." — Anthony Broome | PHOTOS BY CLAYTON SAYFIE