From The World Of Parks & Recreation
By Doug Comer
Jerry West. We all know the name and I am sure that many of you have watched him play on the hardwoods for the West Virginia Mountaineers or the Los Angeles Lakers. Zeke from Cabin Creek is nothing but a class “A” person and not only one of the most memorable men in WV history, but in all sports.
How much of an impact does he have on basketball? For starters, the man is the logo of the National Basketball Association. Of all athletes that has played this great game like Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to name a few, they have our home-state hero reppin’ the NBA. It just shows how important West is to American basketball.
And where youth basketball is such an important learning tool for the overall development of men and women of today, Jerry West’s name is stamped on the developmental league for kids who wish to pursue a young life in organized sports. And, through the help of our local Jerry West League, we have combined resources and will work with the league this fall.
“We are looking for a long-term relationship with Clarksburg Jerry West and this is something that we have needed to do for some time now,” remarked Recreation Specialist Jack Cann. “By allowing our two leagues to merge, this will hopefully double the amount of teams in the league thus making the overall talent more competitive and get away from the repetition of having to face the same teams week after week.”
Parks and Recreation still offers a non-competitive league for those between the ages of 5-8, however, the program has been tweaked a bit to stay consistent with the competitive Jerry West League as Cann explains.
“We are looking to have the teams arranged by age as compared to grade as we did in the past. We will have two divisions, a 5-6 year old league and a 7-8 year old league. Doing this will keep consistency with the older group and we can have more teams involved in the program as well. Again, our younger league will be more instructional than anything else. It is a great start up program that exposes the kids to the game,”
For those who want to register their child for the younger, non-competitive league, we will have open house at the Recreation Complex next Wednesday, November 9th and Thursday, November 10th from 5:30 to 7:30 in room A, which is located downstairs in the main room.
Jerry West, who already had an early registration October 29th, will have a “second chance” registration on the same dates. Signups will be in room B which is adjacent to room A. The process to register will not be very long, but there are some parameters that must be followed as Cann explains.
“While we are working under one umbrella as far as both leagues are concerned, those who are wanting to register a child under the 5-8 non-competitive league as well as a child for Jerry West, you will need to bring two forms of payment as Jerry West falls under a non-profit business separate from Harrison County. Two forms of payment are check and money order only. And please have a form of age verification available prior to registration.”
For more information on the basketball programs, please contact Jack Cann at 304-423-7800 and we hope that your child wants to play this great game of basketball.
