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Spring basketball program starts up

Although school basketball may be finished, there’s still a way for young players to work on their skills this spring.
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Head coach Scott Stewart oversees players in the grade 4/5 division at the Grand Forks basketball development program.

Although school basketball may be finished, there’s still a way for young players to work on their skills this spring.For the third straight year, Grand Forks Secondary (GFSS) principal Scott Stewart is running Boundary Basketball Development Program for boys and girls in grades 4-7.“This is a basketball development program that the high school sponsors,” said Stewart. “We have a number of our senior students as active coaches. We’ve put together a two night a week program focusing on developing skills in kids in grades 4 through to 7.”The players, who are split into two groups by age, work on skills on Tuesdays with younger coaches. On Tuesdays, Stewart himself teaches skills for half the session and the players then play games for the rest of the time.“Tuesdays, the kids work with their high school mentors and on Thursdays I work on specific skill development as a whole. The high school coaches circulate and provide extra instruction for the kids. We finish the night with a half-hour game.”Stewart said the program was created with the intention of building the skill base of the kids in Grand Forks.“We’ve opened the program to kids at Christina Lake, Perley Elementary and Hutton Elementary,” he said. Last year the league was sold out and even had a waiting list. “We’re probably looking at the same thing this year,” he said. “Its just a matter of getting the information out there.”Players can still register with the program which is run out of the high school. Parents need to contact Stewart at GFSS.The cost is $50 per players and the program goes twice a week for seven weeks.The program, and the young players, also benefits from having players from the senior team come out and coach.“Our plan has always been to give our kids at the high school an opportunity to do some mentoring,” he said. “I do some work with them as far as teaching properly and how to coach younger kids. And it’s a good experience for them. It’s twofold: We benefit with our students getting leadership experience, and the elementary kids benefit from getting instruction from older kids they look up to and see playing at the high school and that’s what it’s all about.”