2018/2019 Boys Basketball

We had 6 Boys Basketball teams this year, Rookie (7th grade), Bantam (6th grade), Novice, (5th grade), PeeWee (4th grade) Sub-Novice 1 (3rd grade) and Sub-Novice 2 (1st & 2nd grades). We also had 6 kids participate in our Basketball Clinic, run by John Saffian, with his Holy Family program.

Our Rookie team, coached by Brandon Polite along with Mike Ambery and Patrick Gaveau, took some lumps and had a rough year last year. Some of the boys were discouraged, and they weren’t sure if they would come back this season, and if they did, we considered putting them in Division II. But, Coach Brandon had different plans for these boys. They worked hard in the off season and improved their individual games, and then put that individual improvement to work once the season started, to improve as a whole team, and boy did it show! They finished the regular season 8-4 with some big wins over local rivals.

Just a few weeks before the season began, our Bantam team was in danger of folding. Luckily with some last minute recruiting by parents, we were able to add 6 new players to the returning 4, as well as a new coaching staff, Rob Klaus from Holy Family and Joe McMahon. The team had two big wins early in the season, but then struggled to find their groove with so many kids playing together for the first time. With this knowledgeable coaching staff, and lots of players with raw ability, these kids could have a breakout season next year, and could even shake things up in the playoffs!

After rolling over the competition last year in the Division II, this year we entered our Novice Boys in Division I for more of a challenge, to help strengthen the team. The team was coached by Vinny Garelick, his first time coaching for AMAA, along with returning assistant, Henry Correa. 3 new players were added to this very talented team of 11. Coach Vinny focused on discipline and getting these boys to play as a strong team rather than individual players. The finished the regular season 7-7 but these boys can play with anyone and on any given day. They drew a bye in the first round of playoff and in round two they can potentially play a team they defeated twice during the regular season, and make a nice little run at the championship.

Our PeeWee boys team, was led by new head coach, Mike Cosides, with assistance from his wife, Renee. This team of 11 almost folded before the season started, due to lack of volunteers to coach, until Mike stepped up and saved the day. The season started off rough with a record of 1-7 in the first 8 games, but in December, this team turned a corner and finished the regular season with 6-8, with some dominating wins over teams they lost to earlier in the season. They’re on a roll and we’re hoping that momentum stays with them in the post season!

The Sub-Novice divisions in CYO are instructional divisions where the kids learn how to play the game without the score being kept. Our Sub-Novice 1 team was coached by John Saffian, Ty Lin, and Robert Panepinto. Of these 10 kids, 5 of them we new to the team. The kids learned the position on the court and what each position was responsible for and really worked hard on playing good defense. Our Sub-Novice 2 team coached by Daniel Madrazo, was made up of 13 boys, and half of them were new to the team. They learned fundamental rules of the game and worked on their ball-handling and shooting.