By By Matthew Nascone
The Atmore Area YMCA definitely has something to celebrate in February. This is the month that marks the beginning of the basketball season at the Y.
"We are looking forward to getting basketball started," YMCA facilities director and sports programs director Ross Terry said. "It should be a fun time now that we have our brand new gym."
Terry is referring to last year when the Y was not able to hold its basketball program for youths or adults.
This year the youth and adult men's programs are ready to roll. Youth games begin Feb. 13 in the newly remodeled Y gymnasium and the adult league starts Feb. 17.
Terry said he has added a new twist to the adult league.
"We will be doing the normal league games as well as something new this year," Terry said. "We will be going to Brewton to compete against their area teams and it should be a fun time."
Practice for the youth league is underway now and the teams are getting ready for the season to begin next Monday. The breakdown of age groups will be five teams of 6-8 year olds, three teams of 9-12-year-old boys, two teams of 9-15-year-old girls and three teams of 12-15-year-old boys.
Terry said the latter group would not start until Feb. 16 because of the overlap of high school "B" team boys.
The adult league will have another change for 2006, Terry said. This year instead of being open to all adults 18 and over the league is limited to any man 28 or older. There was a reason for the change.
"The older men said they were not able to keep up with the young guys," Terry said. "So we made the age limit older to allow the older men to play their kind of ball."
The games for youth basketball will be played on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 p.m. until the last game ends and the adult games will take place on Fridays from 6:30 p.m. until the last game ends.
Registration for the youth league ended Dec. 30, 2005, but registration for the adult league is still open.
The entry fee for the adult league is $150 per team and the maximum roster size is eight people because the games will be four on four due to the floor size at the Y.
Proof of age is required to participate this year and for more information or to register for the adult league give Terry a call at 368-9622.