If you asked me 4 years ago what my perspective on the YMCA was, I would have told you it was either a daycare for small children, or a gym for the senior-citizen population. I would’ve never guessed that the YMCA provides interest to all age groups from infants to teens to adults.
The YMCA has many different activities to do such as: swimming, weight training, cardiovascular activities, and basketball. In recent years, basketball at the YMCA, also known as Y-Ball, has taken the mainstream in Stark county
The YMCA offers teaching courses on basketball for kids who are starting at 3 years old all the way to 5 years old. Then kids from 6-7 years old start to compete against each other, all the way up until they’re 16. When entering junior year of high school the YMCA provides a Y-basketball program for highschool students at varied locations. They play a short season ranging from 7 to 10 games, then play in a bracket like tournament. All teams go to the playoffs and face off against each other.
Arguably one of the best players in Y-Ball last year, Phoenix Smith stated, “The time frames for the school team practices didn’t line up with my life because they were too long to attend. I also like to ball up with close friends, I feel like it brings us closer together. As well as the fun aspect of playing y-ball. It’s not super competitive, but it’s relaxing and engaging for me.”
YMCA Basketball provides a competitive environment for your friends to compete against other teams. It helps bring friends together and spend more time together and play in a competitive game other than streetball.
“I love playing the game with my closest friends and forming new friendships,” Sam Schuld responded when asked why YMCA Basketball sparks interest with him.
Meanwhile, people wonder why students are choosing to play Y-Ball over the school team? There’s a lot of different reasons, but the major reasons would include: Practices, Adults, schedules, playing time, players. When playing basketball personally, I find it more entertaining to shoot hoops with close friends in a competitive environment than random teammates that you’re placed with. With the most recent levy results however, the new pay-to-play agreement for high school basketball players may cause roster numbers to decrease in upcoming years.
Y-Ball helps teach many different skills such as: teamwork, friendship, communication, decision making, time management, and many more skills. Need something to do this winter? Go to your local YMCA and check-out the excitement that is Y-Ball.
