Ronald “Jo Jo” Turner II maneuvers through traffic during Thursday’s Hoops for Jesus Battle of the Badges Basketball game at Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church.

What began as friendly games of basketball between two churches has burgeoned into an area-wide phenomenon that has drawn basketball virtuosos and novices alike to Meridian’s Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church.

 For the last two decades, Mount Olive’s family life center during spring break has been home base for the Hoops for Jesus Spring Break Scholarship All-Star Week. 

While the week-long festivities are focused around basketball, Hoops for Jesus commissioner Ron Turner Sr. said a source of pride for the organization comes from the fact it’s afforded countless youngsters the opportunity to attend college.

“You can see 20 years later that it has evolved,” Turner said. “Basically, we have been able to utilize it to capitalize on a scholarship fund for the youth here. Any membership or sponsorship that’s paid goes directly to the youth scholarship fund. Over the past 20 years, we’ve been able to supplement the college for about 100-plus students. Just supplementing them with the benefits from the proceeds of this game.”

This year’s iteration of the Hoops for Jesus All-Star week opened with a three-day basketball camp before Thursday’s anticipated Battle of the Badges basketball game, which pitted police officers against firefighters.

 The Hoops for Jesus scholarship basketball tournament portion began Friday and will conclude Saturday night. The Rev. A.D. Lewis offered prayers before each game and held meditation periods each day.

In one of Friday afternoon’s games, the Boys and Girls Club squared off against the Dream Team. Spectators crowded the upper level of the gymnasium to catch glimpses of the action. The aroma of fish, hot dogs and nachos filled the intimate building. 

Twenty-five games are scheduled for the two-day tournament, and Turner said more than 500 kids were registered to play. 

Over the last two decades, thousands of youngsters and adults of all skill levels have cruised up and down Mount Olive’s parquet court. 

“Rodney Hood started playing through this game,” Turner said. “I tell his dad all the time, I say, ‘I know you all have the Boys and Girls Club down there, but this is where Rodney Hood started his basketball career. He was like a sixth-grader playing with 10th graders — I think Rodney was in the sixth grade when he started playing Hoops for Jesus.”

Love for the week-long hoops fest doesn’t subside when players graduate from high school. 

Sharod Smith’s parents first introduced him to Hoops for Jesus when he was 6 years old, and he’s been involved with the organization ever since. Smith, now 26, competes in the tournament’s adult division and was scheduled to open his tournament run with this teammates at 8 p.m. Friday. 

“Everybody is on spring break, and you have kids who aren’t fortunate to be able to go certain places like other kids who are able to travel,” said Smith, who was a member of the 2010-11 Meridian High School state championship basketball team. “So we open the gym through the week, and we have free food for them and just welcome them into the church so that they can actually get the Word and enjoy the sport they like to play —  the best of both worlds. Personally, I grew up in this church, so it’s a lot of love and a lot of familiar faces. It’s just love, and that’s what I like about it.”

Turner said Hoops for Jesus was created with the aim of providing local children an activity during their spring break, and he believes that aspect remains responsible for its strong draw.

“It’s always rewarding when I see these youngsters out and they tell me the impact that Hoops for Jesus had on their lives because some of them can’t afford to go out of town for spring break,” Turner said. “Everybody does not have the luxury of taking kids to Disney World and things like that, so they’re looking for something to do, and they’ll come here and they’ll hang out all day long, and I believe that it’s really had a great impact on the lives of a lot of these kids.”

Turner’s seen all four of his children come up through Hoops for Jesus, and his son, Ronald “Jo Jo” Turner II, played in Thursday’s Battle of the Badges contest. As the organization’s commissioner, observing its growth and subsequent local impact has been gratifying. 

“It really is rewarding, because if you think of what’s actually going on with some of the young people in our community, some young people who don’t have a safety net to fall into, for our church and our pastor to have the vision to say, ‘Let Mount Olive be that resource,’” Turner said. “We’re just one of those resources that the city didn’t have at first, and it’s been very rewarding to see these kids come off of those streets into a structured environment.”

Tineirro Nicholson donned a red t-shirt and shorts as he made his way around Mount Olive’s gymnasium early Friday afternoon. The 10-year-old started playing with Hoops for Jesus two years ago. After several basketball-filled days, he burst with excitement as he rattled off his list of early favorites for the weeks.

“Making shots in the hoops; (making) a lot of friends,” he said.

Nicholson wasn’t hesitant to give an answer as to what he most looked forward about the week.

“Playing my game,” Nicholson passionately responded.