Youth basketball league teaches fundamentals, sportsmanship
Kids in Taos now have another sports league in town to occupy their time, much like their highschool counterparts.
In prior years, youth athletes only had Taos Little League in the spring and Taos Youth Football League in the summer to get a head start on their athletic development in those sports. Basketball was the odd one out until this past winter, with the founding of the Taos Youth Basketball League.
“Growing up here playing basketball, there just wasn’t as many opportunities to be on the court and have so much gym time,” said Scott Blair, coach of the fifth grade Hawks. “So what [League President] Chris Baca and all the other volunteers did was very special for this community.”
A group of dedicated parents — many of whom are heavily involved in Taos Little League and/ or Taos Youth Football League — secured two basketball courts, the Taos Charter School court and the Otero Gymnasium court, throughout the winter and spring in order to run a competitive youth basketball league for second- through fifth-grade students.
“We’ve had a lot of outpour from the community. We had 170plus kids this year,” Chris Baca said. “Pretty much five teams in each division. To be honest, it’s been very successful so far, you can tell people have definitely missed basketball. And for them to be able to come into the league and see how organized we’ve had it was great.”
Through the blessing of Taos High Athletic Director Hernando “Nando” Chavez and Taos Charter School Director Jeremey Jones, the new basketball league has been able to play at the charter school on Saturdays and play on the same court as the Taos Tigers on Sundays.
“Coach Nando at the high school, if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have a place to play on Sunday,” Baca added. “And same with Mr. Jones at the charter. They welcomed us with open arms and they’re definitely community first. They saw the need for the program and they welcomed us with open
arms, which was nice. So we’re able to get in there and, plus, especially on Sundays at the high school. For kids, it’s just a whole different environment. They walk in and they’re just like, ‘Oh man! You know the Tigers play here?’ It really helps them show up and play.”
Learning the game
The league has been both flexible and structured regarding the expectations they have on the youth as ball players. Before the season started, the league’s board of directors set rules and standards for each division. For instance, in the secondgrade division, during the first half of the season, the officiating will look away on walking and double dribbles but they’ll enforce the foul calls.
The reins are much tighter with the older athletes.
“For third, fourth, especially fifth-grade, we’re calling everything — three seconds, walking, traveling,” Baca said. “Because that fifth-grade season next year goes into sixthgrade, where they call everything, so they gotta get used to that. Once you call it a couple times, they realize, ‘Oh yeah, I can’t do that.’ So they learn a lot quicker.”
Championship round
The youth league’s 16-game regular season culminated in a championship round on Sunday (April 3) at the Otero Gym. Almost all of the top teams in each division (grade level) won the final championship game, except for the 14-2 Gators who were upset by the 13-3 Bulldogs.
The fourth-grade championship
game between the Rockets and the Hornets provided a hectic finish that went into double overtime. In regulation, Jeremy Kessinger had apparently sealed the deal for the Rockets with a field goal in the final minute. Not to be outdone, Titus Ely knocked down a game-tying 3-point buzzer beater to keep the Hornets alive.
Before the clutch shot from Ely went in, Rockets coach Daniel Barrela contemplated going with a classic late-game situational approach to guarantee the win. Assistant coach AJ Cardenas considered going for the foul to make the Hornets shoot two free throws and get the ball back up by one.
Barrela figured to let them play it out.
“We’ll just let them take the next shot,” Barrela said. “No fourth-grade team this year has made a three pointer. You know, give him the benefit of the doubt. If they get off a three, they get it off, but I doubt they’ll make it.”
In overtime, Ely gave the Hornets a chance to win with his hard drives to the basket drawing fouls in the process. The ball movement of the
Rockets, even with a few of their players fouling out, eventually prevailed as they won 13-9.
“It was a special way to win,’’ said Barrela.
The fifth-grade championship provided more of a scoring punch between the 15-1 Hawks and the 12-4 Warriors.
Elias Martinez led all scorers with 8 points. Martinez hit a couple of stepback 3-pointers against tough defense to give his Warriors a four point cushion.
Damel Coss provided shot blocking and rebounding for the Warriors but Danny Brown found the nooks and crannies, in which to convert a pair of running bank shots against the Warriors defense. His playmaking in the second half helped the Hawks secure the 16-13 victory.
In the final seconds, Martinez threw up a last-ditch heave to pull off another buzzer-beating miracle, but it was not to be.
“It’s fun to watch and fun to be a part of, but it was intense,” said Hawks coach Blair. “It was a close game. And we’re fortunate enough to pull out at the end.”