Athletes Excel in Community Basketball Program

The sounds of basketballs bouncing, balls swishing through hoops, and balls being passed topartners could be heard in the Chrin Center Gymnasium. There were 25-30 athletespracticing their dribbling, passing, and shooting skills each Thursday afternoon for 8 weeks inMarch and April. Spot shooting, serpentine dribbling through cones, give and gos, keepaway, and 3 vs. 3 were just a few of the drills they worked on each week.It was great to see the improvement they made week to week. They worked on 3 basic skillsthat were tested at the start of the training, throughout the training,and at the end of thetraining for the FIT 5 Program. This enabled us to see the improvements they were makingand the goals they were meeting. Our athletes also learned how to take the skills theylearned to play in a 3 vs 3 game. They were able to work together with teammates to pass,shoot, rebound, and play defense.Ten athletes participated in the VIA Shoot Out at NCACC on March 31. They played two 3 vs 3games in the big court in front of a large crowd. Senior All-Stars from the Lehigh Valley werepresent and cheered for our athletes during their games. The highlight of the day for most ofour athletes was getting interviewed by Service Electric TV! They were asked questionsabout how they like playing in front of a large crowd and how they like being there with allthe Lehigh Valley Sr All-Stars! There were smiles galore on all of our athletes faces!For the first time, seven of our athletes participated in a Special Olympic BasketballCompetition at Moravian College on April 22! They played three games against teams fromBethlehem and Lehigh Counties in a 3 vs 3 competition. All of the teams we played againsthave competed at Kutztown and Penn State, and our team did an outstanding job against thestiff competition! This was a great learning experience for our athletes and for the coaches.But the best part of the day was seeing all the smiles, high fives, and hugs between theathletes; the pizza they served after the games wasn’t too bad either! Looking forward tonext year and seeing what our athletes will accomplish!
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