Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. The basketballs were hitting the gym floor as the fifth and sixth-graders prepared for their basketball jamboree on May 13. ACS Hillingdon and ACS Cobham joined in on the action. Both the blue gym and the Farmer gym were used for the event; the girls games took place on the blue gym’s full court, and the boys games took place in the Farmer gym two at a time.
The games were meant to be developmental. “We want them [the players] to learn to love the game, and hopefully this event adds some friendly competition,” Mr. John Farmer, one of the coaches and the athletic director at ASL, said.
The participants were clearly very enthusiastic. In the boys’ games, you could hear chants from the ASL benches of “ASL! ASL! ASL!”
Some of the players had never played competitively against other schools, so these games were very useful. “It [the games] will help a lot of us, sixth graders especially, because next year we will only be playing against other schools, and this could get us ready,” sixth-grader Ethan Walter said.
Grace Cochran, a sixth grader said, “It’s going to be a good starting pace, so you don’t have to spend the beginning of the year trying to get ready for a tournament, not knowing what it’s like.”
Who won and who lost was not important, as the games were developmental. The games were overall a great success because the players all felt like they learned many useful skills and tactics out of the day.
