Teens heartbroken by vandalism that destroyed youth training gym in Sugar land

Friday, June 10, 2022
SUGAR LAND, Texas (KTRK) -- The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office is looking for the person(s) responsible for vandalizing a youth training gym in the Sugar Land area Wednesday night.

"They tore up the TVs in here, busted the walls, cut up the furniture, busted the tables up, busted all the computers up, busted the main water line," said Coach Will Davis, a co-owner of the gym.

The youth training center off W. Belfort near Clodine, which was once praised by the Mayor of Houston for its dedication to young athletes, was ransacked after a surveillance video caught a man breaking through the front glass door.

A busted water line flooded the facility including the basketball court that dozens of young athletes refer to as a second home.

"I go here like three times, four times a week sometimes," said 12-year-old Kameron Ladejobi.

Davis says nothing was physically taken, but they will have to close their doors for repairs which could last weeks.

"I'm just really frustrated that this could happen to something that you love," said 13-year-old Derrick Thiel.

The boys with big dreams of playing hoops in college say they are working towards athletic scholarships.

"I don't want to have to make my mom or dad pay for college," said Ladejobi.

But they are now feeling the pain of someone with very bad intentions.

"The fact that somebody could just come and take it all away, it's just bad for the community," said Derrick.

The teens say they're not going to let this setback, hold them back.

"Use it as motivation to go out and work harder on my game," Thiel explains.

D-One Athletics will move to temporary training at a neighborhood park.

If you know anything about the vandalism inside D-One Athletics please call the Fort Bend Co. Sheriff's Office at 281-341-4665.

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