A Verde Valley tradition for decades finally found its way back to West Sedona School on Saturday, Jan. 16, at 10 a.m.
That is when six coaches and their 67 players from first through sixth grade opened the first local Grasshopper Basketball league since 2012, as Dillon D’Adamo’s Warriors faced Craig Sullivan’s Vultures.
“When we first started the league, I was a little scared [by] the lack of response we got, that the league wasn’t going to happen,” said Santy Villarico, recreation and aquatics supervisor for the Sedona Parks and Recreation department, which is sponsoring the youth basketball league. “The first game, I was very impressed with the turnout.”
By the time the final buzzer had sounded in the fifth- and sixth-grade game between Jeff McGrath’s Ballers and Lori Zeltwanger’s Tigers, it was afternoon, and Villarico had wondered where opening day had gone.
“I was really surprised at how smooth it ran,” he said. “It was great seeing the kids have a good time.
“I had parents thanking me, parents thanking the referee, that he was doing a good job. The coaches were actually helping out the ref — saying, ‘No, that was out on us, not them.’”
Head referee Phil DePasquale is enforcing rules different from regular basketball games, with Robert Downey — also the head coach of Team Swish in the third- and fourth-grade league — serving as his backup.
The rules promote development and involvement, as they have with the Grasshopper Basketball league in Camp Verde for more than 25 years.
The home team, which Fredrico Valdez’s Sun Devils will be when they take on Downey and Team Swish at 11:15 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, always wears the white jersey.
Those games and first- and second-grade games are played in eight five-minute quarters, substituting only at the four-minute mark of each quarter, with no time outs. Those games are played on courts half the official size, shooting to lower baskets, using a basketball a pound lighter than official weight.
Only four players are needed to start a game, with coaches able to keep that number of players on the court for an even match-up and even move players from one team to another to go five-on-five. In the event of an injury, games may continue with three players.
“It is competitive, but I made it perfectly clear to the parents in my announcements at each game that this is a recreational league,” Villarico said. “It’s for learning: It’s to educate [children] how to play, [and] it’s to get them ready for more competitive leagues.”
Because of the limited number of teams in the league, teams will play a head-to-head regular season only. All players will receive participation trophies.
“That’s something we planned before we started the league,” Villarico said. “I guess that’s what they’ve done in the years before.”
As more teams enter the league, he added, there will be a playoff set up.
“More teams, for sure — taking kids to an actual basketball game — and more volunteers would be great,” Villarico said. “It’d be great if more members of the community could enter into a sponsorship.”
Local children who will be playing every Saturday through March 12 at West Sedona School:
â– Ballers: Sedona Adams, Oliver Cardinall, Julia Esquer, Karla Gonzalez, Ocean Lagercrantz, Noah Lyn-Williams, Israel McGrath, Brady Paz, Isac William Stecklein and Nyah Valdez
â– Tigers: Josiah Atencio, Sarah Frey, McCauley King, Lazor Lanson, Egan Leister, Nate Mumysmith, Sofia Saldana, Colton Stevenson, Lesly Suarez and Riley Whittaker
â– Sun Devils: Krystal Betancourt, Skyla Bird, J. Carlos Gonzaels, Israel Montanez, Isaac Montes de Oca, Zarie Haly, Solei Lichtenwalter, Damia Papas-Collins, Alexsis Pedroza, River Valdez and Skyrah Wilmer
â– Swish: Mason Bailey, Amy Brefeld, Nicholas Camp, Emily Frey, Charlie GruneBerg, Alexis Lugo, Carter Pederson, Kayla Rogers, Juliana Saldana, Alana Schrader, Vincent Smith-Shayawatt, Zion Velasquez and Omar Villalpando
â– Vultures: Ray Bogran, Emile Daher, Ivan Guzman, Zaire Haly, Alani Kincaid, Lucas Lopez, Analeya Martinez, Angel Montes de Oca, Devon Pickette, Maria Saldana, Ayden Sullivan and Abagail Tedders
â– Warriors: Angel Corral, Ethan Dadmo, Sophia Pacheo, Dalila Pedroza, Raja Rios, Ramani Rios, Jude Rosker, Alexandra Tranquilino, Chaveyo Viafora, Matreya Viafora and Ivan Villalpando.
For more photos and the schedule of Grasshopper games and practices, please see the Friday, Jan. 22, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.
