Local youth basketball to tip off Jan. 8 in area towns

By Sam Waller

Local fifth and sixth grade basketball players will tip off their season Saturday, Jan. 8, with four teams competing against opponents from other area towns.

“We’ve been practicing for about a week now,” league coordinator and coach Clint Chapman said.

Chapman said Albany’s boys team will play at Eula with the girls teams at Hawley. Albany will have four teams in the league with boys and girls teams for both fifth and sixth graders.

The teams will play each Saturday through Feb. 5. Albany is tentatively scheduled to host a girls tournament on Jan. 29, but Chapman said that creates a scheduling conflict he is working to resolve.

“I requested that it be our boys who play at home,” he said, “ but they put the girls in Albany. I can’t host and coach at the same time. We’re trying to figure it out.”

Chapman said the boys teams have had good participation with at least 10 players on each team. The girls’ numbers are down, though with seven fifth graders and five sixth graders.