Mount Hermon launches youth basketball league

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On the coattails of a successful adult basketball league, Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center is launching a youth basketball league focused on teaching fundaments.
The winter league is for boys and girls in 2nd through 8th grades and will focus on fundamental instruction, said Mount Hermon’s Recreation Coordinator Matt Meisner.
“We want to teach the fundamentals of the game, because that is what we feel is lacking around here,” Meisner, a former varsity basketball coach at San Lorenzo Valley High School, said.
The league is open to all comers. Games will start on January 7 and be played on Saturdays and Sundays at the Mount Hermon gymnasium.
The league is intended to be fun for all ages, as well as skill-building, Meisner said.
“We’re trying to develop players who enjoy the game,” Meisner said. “The way you enjoy it is to actually know to play.”
For 2nd and 3rd graders, games will be 3-on-3 with teams of six players. Games will be played on a 9-foot rim so that players don’t have to “shot-put” the ball in order to make a basket, Meisner said.
For 4th and 5th graders, co-ed games will be 4-on-4 on short full courts. Boys and girls will be separated in the 6th and 7th grade league and the 8th grade league. In both these leagues, 5-on-5 full-court games will be played.
Meisner hopes to have parents coach the teams with instruction from Mount Hermon staff in order to teach the game. Practice time will be built into the schedule so teams can improve.
Registration began this month and will run through Nov. 30.
Mount Hermon ran its first spring and fall men’s basketball league this year. The league had 10 teams in the fall and Meisner hopes to expand it in Spring 2012.
For information: www.mounthermon.org/recleague