by Matt Wright
This basketball season marks the second year of competitive basketball for Lakeland youth players. We started this program last year to start building a foundation so our kids would have a competitive background as they filtered up to the middle school and eventually to the high school. We started with a 4th grade team last year, and this year we have 4th and 5th grade teams. The hope is to add another grade next year. Many of the private schools we compete against enter teams in the 1st grade level like Wave basketball (CBHS) and Bluff City Ballers (PDS/MUS) in the hopes of keeping that core team together until high school. So by the time that team enters their senior year they’ve already played 11 seasons together not including off season basketball leagues and camps. My goal for Lakeland has always been the same. Let the kids start young together and let them play thru the years and the improvement is dramatic. In fact, our 5th graders have seen drastic improvement in only their second year playing together.
Wendi Haley of Lakeland Parks and Rec loves the option of offering parents a more competitive schedule if that’s what they desire. “We have a great rec league here in Lakeland, but I also love offering the option to play a competitive schedule if that’s what a parent or player is looking for. It’s a bigger time commitment and it cost more to play but our job is to offer parents options as much as we possibly can.”
During the winter basketball season our teams play in the Crosscheck league in Memphis. The league consist of grades 1 thru 6 and have 64 teams currently playing from the Memphis metro area. Teams are entered from a variety of backgrounds including charter schools in Memphis, to public schools like Frayser Elementary to many private schools like St. Georges and PDS and more. Games are played every Saturday at a variety of locations in Memphis from Houston High School to 2nd Presbyterian Church on Poplar. The season runs thru the middle of February at which point the spring season begins in the Hoops City (formerly Mike Miller) spring AAU league.
Zach Cowell said he’s seen improvement from last year to this year. “We went from hoping to compete in games last year to the real possibility of winning our division (5th) grade) this year. We’re now one of the best 4 teams in Crosscheck when we play well. We’ve improved a lot.”
The 5th grade team is coached by Zach Cowell and myself. The 4th grade team is coached by Mike Robertson, Sean Gallagher and BJ Cooper.
About the reporter
Matt Wright is a former school board member and commissioner. He also coaches Lakeland youth football and basketball. He will be reporting on sports for Lakeland Currents.
