Basketball returns

Jay County used to have a strong fifth and sixth grade basketball program two score ago, before eventually fading out.

After an absence of basketball at the elementary school level for years, basketball has returned.

On Nov. 1, elementary students in Jay County are receiving the opportunity to learn about and play basketball through Jay School Corporation.

With the shuffling of grades and what buildings house them because of consolidation, there hasn’t been a steady system for elementary school basketball in recent years.

 Now that those changes are complete with sixth graders moved back to elementary schools — Bloomfield, East Jay, Redkey and West Jay — Jay County athletics director Steve Boozier thought it would be a good idea to bring basketball back to the elementary school with the focus on teaching the fundamentals.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in the country or at what level, fundamentals have suffered,” Boozier said. “So now we have fifth and sixth graders back in that K-sixth model, I thought this is a great time to reinstitute (elementary basketball). 

“This year is going to be primarily practices with a few scrimmages involved. Down the road that may evolve to playing some games, but our focus needs to be on fundamentals.”

The program is free to fifth and sixth graders at the four elementary schools. Practices are held after school on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at East Jay and West Jay, with students from Bloomfield traveling to East Jay and students from Redkey traveling to West Jay.

The collaboration between the schools was a big point that program leader and West Jay principal Jeff Davis wanted to emphasize to the athletes.

“We're coming together and we're scrimmaging and playing but we're playing as the Patriots,” Davis said. “We're not playing school versus school, but we're coming together as one and as Patriots. We want them to get that mentality because next year they’ll all be together in middle school so we want to build that momentum now.”

The practice starts with coaches teaching players the fundamentals of the game and before they break out into teams that includes participants from each school for scrimmages and other competitions.

There would be even more interaction between all four schools in the form of games, but the school corporation didn’t get the number of coaches it wanted to try and pull that off. For now, they kept it as the practices with scrimmages so players could be coached by the same people and receive a consistent message.

It was important to Davis to make the program accessible to students. He has noticed fewer and fewer children shooting in driveways or at parks over the years and wanted to provide an opportunity for kids to practice and develop their skills rather than just playing games.

“What we’re looking at are our children who typically don’t have opportunities to play,” Davis said. “We have the West Jay Community Center and Jay Community Center. And there’s AAU, but then you also have some children who don't have that opportunity, and we just want to try to teach them some basic skills.”

Boozier and Davis both said that once the basketball season is over, those involved with the program will sit down with Jay County High School coaches Jerry Bomholt and Sherri McIntire to talk about what skills are important to be teaching and how the program should evolve in the future.

The program will conclude this year Dec. 19 with a showcase during which parents can come to East Jay and West Jay elementary schools to watch their children scrimmage. More information will be sent to parents closer to the date.

“It's our intention to use this as a starting point, to build off of what we start and learn this year,” Davis said. “We just want to make sure that we provide a fostering program that will help our kids learn the love of the game, but also learn that we are all Patriots.”­­­