Budd Grebb Memorial Basketball League begins
The Budd Grebb Memorial Basketball League opens up tonight with girls action, and the boys division will begin next week.
Melanie Greco, the Director of the Girls division, is excited to get things under way.
“This is a great time of the year, the kids love playing in the summer and they enjoy the format of playing outside,” she said. “It is all man-to-man defense and is a lot different than their typical playing experiences.
“They are playing with friends, against high school teammates, and there are even sisters playing against each other.”
Greco talked about the girl’s division starting a week earlier than usual.
“We started earlier this year because July 4th is on a Tuesday and there are always huge AAU tournaments for girls the week after the 4th,” she said. “That is an active recruiting period for colleges with the girls but it isn’t for the boys and we would always be missing players.
“So we will take that whole week off and the boys will play that Wednesday and Thursday.”
The girls league plays on Monday’s and Wednesday’s and the boys play on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s with the exception of the week of July 4th.
A change this year is the start times as the first game will start at 7 p.m. each night as compared to 6 p.m. in previous years.
“It is too hot some days and that hour helps,” said Greco.
This is the fifth year for the girl’s division and there is now a sixth team.
“That is a sign of how the league is growing and we are glad to see the interest and new talent coming in,” Greco said. “We now have kids from 20 different schools.
“Players have brought friends and it continues to grow, and we now have six former players playing college and so many former players come back to help.”
Action kicks off tonight when the expansion team, Duda’s Farm, plays Cedarbrook at 7 p.m. and it will be followed by Belle Vernon Dairy Queen and AMD Industry.
The nightcap, which is scheduled to start at 9 p.m., is a championship game rematch between defending champion Dax Thomas State Farm and Lee Supply.
All games are played at the Mechanic Street Playground court. In case of inclement weather, games will be moved to the California Area Middle School gymnasium that particular night.