So Catchings went to the Fever's community relations department and begged them for something to do. During her first event in , a basketball clinic at a local family center, the club manager made a life-altering suggestion after watching the former University of Tennessee star work with the kids. And so began the road to the Catch The Stars Foundation, which is celebrating its 10th year this summer, and has become a staple among youth outreach programs in Indianapolis.
Catch The Stars is a wide-ranging youth program serving underprivileged kids ages 7 through The foundation offers 12 programs, including basketball camps, fitness clinics and mentoring and literacy programs. She didn't have to pull my daughter aside to mentor her, but she did. She told Miah that she can talk to her anytime, and she didn't have to do that. I just appreciate that she takes the time. Cassandra Shelby first met Catchings at a Fever game more than a decade ago. She came to the game as a fan and was waiting afterward for an autograph.
Catchings and Shelby got to talking about the community work that Shelby was doing. Shelby adds that Catch The Stars is "very valuable in the community," especially in an area of the city with high poverty and crime rates. She shows them that you don't have to turn to crime or other negative things.
She shows the kids the positive side of life, and they respond to her. Catchings' own story of struggling to fit in is well-known. Born with a hearing impairment that required her to wear hearing aids as a young girl, Catchings threw herself into basketball.
She has tried to create a place for kids where they feel like they fit in as well. Some of the kids she serves, Catchings says, come from very difficult home environments. She recalls hearing some of the year-olds who participate in her camps share experiences that are difficult to comprehend.
