by Paul Langfellow
It was all hands on deck in Coon Rapids this past weekend as one of several locations across the State of Minnesota hosting the MYAS Grade State Boys Basketball Championship, ages 3rd through 6th grade. Coon Rapids High School, Spring Lake Park High School and several others welcoming this year’s end of season tournament.
Jill Hettwer, site coordinator at Coon Rapids was excited for this year’s event “We want all the kids to have a memorable experience, to just have fun! First and foremost,” she explained, “these tournaments should always be about youth players creating memories and learning the wonderful game of basketball.”
In addition, Hettwer noted how this tournament would benefit the Coon Rapids booster program and the importance of partnering with MYAS. “Proceeds made from concessions and the gate fee help to fund the boys basketball team season expenses. Costs like uniforms, meals for every away game, and extra coaching salaries that the district does not cover.”
Hosting such a large tournament demands a big facility like Coon Rapids’ field house. “We have five courts,” said Hettwer. We’re just grateful for the opportunity to host.”
And as a host site Coon Rapids needed plenty of volunteers to pitch in. “Instead of relying solely on parent volunteers, our players are utilized to help us run this tournament,” said Hettwer, “from helping with clocks and score tables, to running the concession stands. All players in 9th through 12th grade are required to pick a shift.”
Hettwer explained that the coaching staff also helps out as court monitors. “After all,” she said, “the funds raised for this tournament go directly back to the boys, so we feel it’s important to have them be apart of our biggest fundraiser of the year.” She was also proud to say that they get many compliments on their concession stand. “We offer a lot of different items, and I think the fans appreciate having more choices than you would normally see at youth tournaments. The sweet smell of fresh cotton candy is always a big hit!”
Hettwer stressed that skills were also an important part of last weekend’s tournament, as player development is key to its success. “At the 4th and 5th grade level, having fun is still the most important part of the weekend. Of course basic skills like sharing the ball, passing, lay-up form, and trying to dribble with your eyes up, are super important to focus on too.” Hettwer hopes Coon Rapids High School can continue to host tournaments like this in the future. “It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year and without it we’d be having to sell a lot of other things like pizzas, or Subway sandwich cards,” she said.
As far as the future of the tournaments themselves, Hettwer said it’s “awesome to see the number of youth playing the game continue to rise—it’s such a great team sport and it creates memories to last a lifetime.”
The teams also had a great time competing and for some outside the Twin Cities it was an opportunity to compete against teams from a different part of the state. “I think this caps off the end of the year, it’s fun to play teams from out of the area,” said Ross Perko, Duluth East 4th grade team coach.
Perko discussed some of the important life lessons learned while playing in the Grade State Tournament. “I grew up on the Iron Range and the earlier you learn that there are players better than you from everywhere, the better. It’s a good lesson.” Perko noted that improvements throughout the year were key to his team’s success. “Our kids have gotten so much better as a team and have really learned to respect each other.”
Down the road at Spring Lake Park High School Matt Whebbe, head coach of the Eagan 6th Grade B team praised the officiating and the tournament in general. “It was very well run and very well set up with very clear rules—everyone knew where to be and the reffing was great.”
Whebbe went on to discuss some of the important skills that he hoped his team would learn despite just being in 6th grade. “We just want them to be good sports, we’re trying to teach foundational basketball. They all deal with a lot of yelling parents, but if they can block all that stuff out and be more mentally tough it’s going to get better for them.”
Participating in a state tournament can bring some new expectations and a different playing style compared to regular season games. “There is a different atmosphere here,” observed Whebbe, “the kids all get geeked up! We have played these teams throughout the year, and hoped to play them here at state to see where we stack-up in terms of how we’ve improved throughout the season. It’s exactly what we thought it would be.”
The last tournament of the year can be bittersweet, as Dan Slepica, Champlin Park 6th Grade Boys Silver team coach, summed up his team’s experience at Spring Lake Park. “It was a good way for us to finish the season with a fun tournament and to play some competitive teams,” he said, however, “its been a little bit of a roller coaster result wise, but the effort has been getting better week after week. At the end of the day it’s been a fun season.”
Even if his team wrapped up their season last weekend, there’s still more basketball to look forward to. Slepica joked that his players were excited about March Madness and all of the NCAA basketball ahead. “I think they’re already planning their brackets and what the prizes will be for first place…and the consequences for last place!”
Here’s a link to the results from around the state from the 3rd-6th boys Grade State Tournament
Photo Gallery from Coon Rapids and Spring Lake Park locations
Minnesota Score Magazine and Radio 