By Rachel Claytor    

“Hibachi!!”  It’s a phrase that has become very familiar to Washingtonians this winter, thanks to Wizards star, Gilbert Arenas, who familiarized fans with the saying by hollering it after every shot he took.  He explained it as his shot is hot like a Hibachi grill, and you can’t argue that he has got the numbers to prove it.  Arenas led the Washington Wizards in point, averaging 28.4 per game, and in assists, with 6.0.  He also ranked third in the League in points.  With Arenas making a strong campaign for League MVP and the Wizards vying for second place in the Eastern Conference, things were looking up for basketball fans in the nation’s capital. 

      Then came the game against the Charlotte Bobcats.  April 4th will remain an infamous day in the minds of die-hard Wizards fans.  One minute into the game, Arenas took a hard fall and didn’t get back up.  It was the hit heard around the world.  Coach Eddie Jordan saw his team’s hope of a league championship crumble.  Fans hopes of an exciting season were dashed.  And Gilbert Arenas saw his best career season end nine regular-season-games too early. 

But for all of the students involved in “Gilbert Scores for Schools,” an entirely different wave of disappointment washed over them.  As important as his presence is on the court, Gilbert Arenas is just as valuable a contributor to the community of DC off the court.  Arenas has been involved with community service projects since he became a Wizard in 2001, and this year, Arenas announced a new program called “Gilbert Scores for Schools.”  For every point he scored in each home game, Arenas pledged to donate $100 to a public school in the Washington DC area.  Owner of the Washington Wizards, Abe Pollin was so impressed with Arenas’ generosity that he agreed to expand the program by sponsoring a school for each away game as well.  The public schools awarded these donations were picked by lottery and announced at a press conference back in October. 

      Out of the one hundred and ninety schools which applied, eighty-two schools were picked and each was assigned a different game in which they would receive the money correlating with how many points Arenas scored in that game.  Arenas joked at the press conference, “Now nobody can give me a hard time for taking too many shots because I can just say, ‘Hey, I’m only doing it for the kids!’”  But on a more serious note, he acknowledged the importance of people in his position giving back to the community.  “I wouldn’t be here today if people hadn’t helped me out, so I wanted to do the same and it’s amazing to be able to help out these kids…I want people to remember me for what I did off the court, as well as what I do on the court.” 

With the torn meniscus in his left knee, Arenas won’t be doing anything on the court for the rest of the season.  Luckily, the nine schools assigned to the last nine games of the regular season have not been forgotten.  Arenas pledged to finish out the program and donate five hundred dollars to each of those nine schools.     

In all, “Gilbert Scores for Schools” will donate exactly $215,000 to elementary, middle, and high schools in the public school districts surrounding DC this season.  Each school has the freedom to use the money as it pleases, under the condition that it be used to fund one of three areas: technology, athletic needs, or after-school programs. At Wheatley Elementary School in DC, students are enjoying new desks and chairs in classrooms, and new jump ropes, balls, and P.E. uniforms.  Neelsville Middle School, in Germantown Maryland was assigned to the Wizards game in November versus Boston, where Arenas dropped 44 points.  With their $4,400 donation, Neelsville students are benefiting from Alpha-Smarts, which are min-typewriters for students to use to take notes.  Bethesda Elementary School is using the $4,100 allocated to them after the December 9th game against Houston towards buying new computers for classrooms.  Principal Edna O’Connor, of Oak Hill Academy in Washington DC said that she has used most of the $2,900 awarded to her school to buy books and equipment to improve the after-school program offered.  The last nine schools will each receive a check for $500 dollars at the end of this month, and none have decided where those newly acquired funds will be distributed.   

Sports and athletes are justified by statistics, and the numbers surely speak for themselves this season.  The number that speaks the loudest is 215,000.  Accompanied by a dollar sign, that is the number Gilbert Arenas and Abe Pollin of the Washington Wizard will be giving back to the children and schools in the community supporting their basketball team.   Some might say this season was a huge disappointment for the fans and players of the Washington Wizards; no play-off run, no MVP, and no wining record.  The thousands of young students attending one of the eighty two public schools benefiting from “Gilbert Scores for Schools” would have to disagree.