About the coach
Coach Dennis “Sandman” Jackson was a coaching legend. Before there were specialized basketball camps held by major companies like Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, etc., and skill camps named after high-profile NBA players, there was the 5-Star Basketball Camp that greats such as Michael Jordan, Alonzo Mourning, and many others participated in with expectations of playing Division 1 basketball or eventually going pro. Coach Jackson was instrumental not only in the development and growth of 5-Star, but also as an elite assistant coach at the University of Pennsylvania.
Coach Jackson eventually went on to develop the P.L.A.Y., Inc. Program, which stands for Planned Learning Achievement for Youth. P.L.A.Y., which is similar to the Butler Basketball School, used the game of basketball to administer life skills, study skills, and SAT test-prep skills around the game of basketball. As a result, youth are able to not only improve their game, but also gain unprecedented life skills that they normally would not gain at that age level.
Coach Jackson was an advocate for handwriting, which has become a long-lost art due to text messaging and voice text in today’s society.