🏀 Beverley Jacques: Building Community Through Basketball and Beyond
At DOD Basketball, we know that basketball is more than just a game — it’s a gateway to leadership, community, and transformation.
This vision was planted twenty years ago when Beverley Jacques co-founded DOD Basketball in Montreal’s Saint-Léonard borough.
Today, Beverley is recognized as a 2023 CBC Black Changemaker, celebrated for the impact he continues to make both on and off the court.
According to CBC News, Jacques launched DOD Basketball at just 23 years old. The program — named after a classic “do or die” basketball drill — started by organizing tournaments and coaching sessions, but it quickly evolved into something much deeper.
“DOD Basketball doesn’t only do basketball,” Jacques says.
“It’s a tool that we use to attract kids, not just to play, but to join the other programs we offer.”
🏀 Basketball Is Just the Beginning
Each week, DOD Basketball now welcomes more than 200 players aged 8 to 17 for practices and games.
Yet, the real work begins once the basketball stops: building bridges between generations, offering life skills mentorship, and addressing challenges in the community.
One powerful example was early during the COVID-19 pandemic, when teenage players launched a postcard campaign for isolated seniors, calling themselves “Ambassadeurs du Vivre Ensemble” (Ambassadors of Togetherness). It was a simple act of kindness, helping connect youth and elders during a time of extreme separation.
“We’re really trying to put our hands on the cultural aspect of the borough,” Jacques told CBC.
🌍 From Sport to Social Impact
Since its founding in 2003, DOD Basketball has served over 7,000 young athletes. Some of those players have grown into coaches, leaders, and mentors within the program. Through partnerships like the first-ever youth basketball camp in Quebec sponsored by Nike, DOD Basketball has expanded its reach and resources.
But Jacques understood early on that offering a gym alone was not enough.
“If the neighbourhood isn’t doing good, it doesn’t matter if the kid is in the gym for two hours. They still go back to the same struggles,” Jacques explained.
Recognizing this, DOD Basketball added programs that address broader community issues, including Évasion, a project aimed at teenagers vulnerable to criminal behavior.
In 2021, following the tragic shooting of a 15-year-old girl in Saint-Léonard, Beverley became a source of leadership and calm. He organized open forums for youth to share their fears, frustrations, and hopes — creating safe spaces when the community needed it most.
✊ A Real Force for Change
As Nancy Rebelo, a history professor at Dawson College, described it:
“He kind of lures youth in through basketball and music, and then creates these bridges to social activism.”
“He’s a real force in that neighbourhood.”
Through twenty years of commitment, Beverley Jacques has transformed DOD Basketball from a local sports project into a powerful social movement, grounded in discipline, culture, and real community connection.
At DOD Basketball, we are proud to stand on the foundation he built — a program where the game is just the beginning, and leadership is the goal.
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