The Capital City National Showcase is coming to the historic Calvin Coolidge High School in Northwest D.C. from Dec. 5-6, bringing together premier teams and rising stars in a celebration of intensity, talent, and the competitive spirit that defines high school basketball. 

Having witnessed the wealth of athletic talent in the DMV region,  Andre Hopson, Derrick Washington, and Antoine Williams, co-founders of the Washington Warriors — a local AAU program — collaborated to create the inaugural showcase, highlighting athletes not only from the area, but across the nation.

Hopson, Williams and Washington, varsity basketball coach at Coolidge, already knew they wanted to do another basketball venture for local players, but years of networking helped their idea turn from a dream to a reality. 

“[Washington] always wants to put his kids on a bigger stage,” Hopson told The Informer. “He and I have made relationships with high school coaches and college coaches alike, and we always intended to get into the event space, we just wanted to wait until the time was right.”

For the co-creators of the showcase, it was critical to not only highlight the Warriors, but the many players making waves throughout the country. 

“Through a couple of mutual friends and acquaintances made, I was able to secure Sierra Canyon (in Los Angeles, California) and then after that we went around and rounded up a lot of the power players in the city, in and around the DMV,” said Hopson. “We had a couple kids that played in our program that are in the Carolinas, so we made sure that we highlighted a few of our players. We tried to get all of the teams that our kids from the Warriors played for.”

This year’s schedule is shaping up to be both thrilling and highly competitive featuring a mix of private-school and public-school matchups. 

Friday, December 5: 

Friday, December 6: 

Some of the showcase’s sponsors include Events DC, DTLR Sports, TruHeight Vitamins, the  D.C. Office of Cable, Tele, Film, Music Music and Entertainment, the Cyber Interscholastic Basketball Alliance, and more.    

As sponsorships create valuable opportunities for exposure, Howard University student Kyle Alexander reflects on how meaningful it is to experience a basketball event like this in the DMV. 

“I personally think it’s great that high school sports are growing in the DC and DMV area,” said Alexander. “As someone from Baltimore who has seen sports grow between Baltimore, Virginia. It’s just been an amazing feeling to see people from my city or people from around the local area to get the recognition that they deserve and they finally get put on the map you’ve had guys like Carmelo Anthony, Jalen Smith, Angel Reese and even guys like Derik Queen so when looking at the future of DMV sports growing and gaining popularity, it’s an amazing feeling to have and it means a lot to the city.”

Thompson emphasized that the two action-packed days of elite high school basketball are also a powerful opportunity to support and uplift youth. 

“I hope this becomes one of the premier events that kids all over the country aspire to play in. You have the National HoopsFest, Hall of Fame Classic, you’ve got those tent pole events that kids just say ‘I wanna play in that when I get older,’” said Hopson. “I hope that our event grows to be one of those things, four, five years down the road that is broadcasted on TV,  partners with the NBA and beyond. I just want it to be one of those events that everyone comes out to every year.” 

Skylar Nelson is an intern for The Washington Informer, covering sports and community stories. She is a senior at Howard University majoring in Journalism, with a minor in Sports Administration. Skylar...

Join the Conversation

1 Comment

  1. This is great. The DMV has some of the best talent in the country and we need more events of this caliber.

    Reply
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *