Gumbo’s Greatest Hits revealed
December 3, 2012
You Game?
December 3, 2012
The Tri-parish area is proving to be a fertile ground for basketball success.
Houma native Sumar Leslie recently inked a professional contract to be Houma’s first-ever women’s pro player. While in Puerto Rico with the San German Atleticas, Leslie helped lead her team to the playoffs, averaging more than 10 points per game.
On the men’s side, LSU standout and Thibodaux native Shavon Coleman is making the most of his major college basketball debut and is currently averaging 17.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game for the Tigers.
Aspiring hardwood heroes get the opportunity to pave their own path each year in Terrebonne Parish.
Terrebonne Parish Recreation holds registration for boys and girls basketball ages 5-14 throughout the month.
For children ages 5-6 and 13-14, registration is from Dec. 3-21. For children ages 7-12, registration is from Dec. 8 to Jan. 12.
The cost to register is $20 per child, with discounts available to parents with more than one kid in the program.
TPR Director Sterling Washington says he “cannot emphasize enough” how important youth sports are to the development of our local children.
“We want all of our kids to have an opportunity to play whatever they choose to play,” Washington says. “We want to teach these kids skills that they can carry from the floor and into the different stages of their lives. That is the goal for us here.”
With TPR basketball, parents would be placing their children into a proven winning program.
Washington says last year was a solid year for TPR’s basketball programs.
The director says that enrollment numbers were up and teams of all ages found success.
“A lot of our teams were fortunate enough to be able to advance to Nationals,” Washington says. “We really had a very good year with our basketball. We were very, very happy about that.”
But while winning is nice, the main purpose of the youth basketball program is growth and improvement – both on and off the court.
Washington says the basketball program is structured to allow children to learn the sport in a competitive environment. He says that he wants every child involved to progress toward becoming a better player, whether his or her team wins games or not.
In the early age groups, rules like traveling and fouls are more loosely called. In the older ages, the game is officiated closer to the game one will see at the high-school level.
“We want all of our kids to leave here better than they were when they got here initially,” Washington says. “That’s our biggest goal – to make our kids better and hopefully maybe find out that a few of them love the sport and want to continue playing throughout their school careers.”
Washington says he also enjoys seeing former TPR products move into other stages of basketball and maintain their success.
Leslie is a product of TPR. Many of our area’s top prep basketball players are, as well.
“There are a lot of examples of kids who come here and learn some life lessons and then take them back to school with them and use those gifts to become leaders within their schools,” Washington says. “We see that all of the time, and we really want to push our children to become leaders.”
To sign a child up for TPR basketball, a parent may visit TPR’s office from at 876 Verret Street from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday-Friday.
Those with questions can contact the parish’s recreational body at (985) 873-6584.
You just never know when tomorrow’s star will be born.
Local Biddy basketball players chase the ball. Terrebonne Parish Recreation youth basketball registration begins in December.
