Coach Dominic Kahee, Head Coach of the CCHS Cougars varsity boys’ basketball coach, has a mission. He has achieved one part of his mission this year, by having a successful 2023-2024 basketball season. His other mission; he wants to bring the ultimate basketball experience to South Carolina, right now specifically in Colleton County. He is doing this through Highstar Hoops, a program ran by Dr. Justin Buford and Ivan Jenkins. The program was started in 2018 initially under the name Tri County League, and as the name suggests consisted of Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties. The teams are broken down into two divisions. Second and third grade is one division and fourth and fifth is the second division. The blueprint is to make it look and feel as close as possible to a varsity high school experience. Following the high structure, there JV teams (2nd and 3rd grade) and Varsity teams (4th and 5th). Each school and teams have their own cheerleaders also in JV squads and Varsity squads. The point is to expose the kids to high level basketball at a young age so that by the time they arrive in high school it’s second nature to them. The program also mixes in a little bit of entertainment to the games. In public high school music is not permitted to be played during the games. This is not the case in HighStar Hoops games. For instance, when the HighStar Hoops teams and squads were recognized at a USC Salkehatchie basketball game, Quincy DJ Buckahluck provided the entertainment. Coach Brianna Chisolm from Cottageville regularly took to the mic to pump up the crowd for Salk. The program also brings a media aspect as well. Each week after the games, Dr. Buford does player and coach interviews to promote public speaking and get the players used to being in front of the camera. Apparently the players love being in front of the camera maybe as much as being out on the court.
Currently in Colleton County Cottageville Elementary School has a team, Northside Elementary has a team, and Bells Elementary, Forest Hills Elementary, and Hendersonville Elementary comprise one team. Hampton County has also been brought in to help round out the roster for games Coach Kahee has his eye on Beaufort County also in an effort to give Lowcountry kids the opportunity to play basketball and play against other kids outside Colleton County as well. The goal is for each elementary school in CCSD to have a team. The only hiccup is finding volunteer coaches. Kahee comments the kids are there and ready to go, they just have to find the coaches.
Coach Kahee considers himself just the ambassador for the program and is “just spreading the word”, but by spreading the word he has opened a door for opportunity for kids at a younger level. Information about HighStar Hoops can be found on Facebook (Highstar hoops) and Instagram (highstarhoops).
