This past weekend PYBA held it’s sixth annual Shootout Tournament. We had 16 teams participating, 4 were from PYBA. There were over 150 Fifth and Sixth graders playing basketball at Suny Potsdam’s Maxcy Hall.  Each team played three games that day. That adds up to 24 games of Basketball being played over a seven hour period. All games were held in the Field house, we played 3 games simultaneously. All participants received a PYBA SHOOTOUT gear bag.

There were teams from Potsdam, Colton, Madrid-Waddington, Norwood-Norfolk, Canton, Clifton-Fine, Brasher Falls, and General Brown. I know that everyone had a good time and we look forward to getting together in the future with these teams to play again.

I would like to thank all of the Potsdam volunteer’s. Many of them showed up at 7-8 a.m. and stayed well after 3p.m. I would like to send out a special thanks to the Clarkson’s Men’s Basketball team. Coach Farley was responsible for sending over 14 of his players to referee for us. They did an outstanding job. This made our tournament run very smoothly. I would also like to thank Helen Sullivan for all of her hard work over the past months and for personally overseeing many of the days activities and getting volunteers at the last minute. I would like to thank Bill Mitchell for all his advice and knowledge. Prior to this year he was the coordinator for this event. Bill took the time to stop by at 7 a.m. to help out and make sure we had everything we needed, and then stayed to referee. Jamey Hoose is the facilities director at Potsdam State, he took time from his busy schedule to make sure the field house was set up for a full day of basketball. This required numerous emails and personal meetings. He also was on site all day to see if we needed anything. Jeff Prosper ran the concession from 7 a.m. until 2:30, a great task in its self. A  monumental task considering his son was playing 3 games that day.

I would like to send an enormous thank you to the Sapp Family. They showed up at 8 a.m. and stayed the whole day. Tammy and Veronica refereed numerous games through out the day. Keith and Breanne ran the time clock and kept score sheets for seven hours. When Veronica was not refereeing she was helping out with the clock and score sheets. K.J. Sapp was also there watching his family make this tournament possible and getting in a little practice when ever the court was available. I can not thank the Sapp family enough for there help. There dedication to PYBA made the day.

I have to give a special thank you to  Milt Langlois, and Jacob MacDonald. It was so great to have my family there, your support and help is immeasurable.

I want to apologize if I did not name you in this thank you. I know who you are and the parents and children of PYBA know who you are. There were many more people who helped out to make this day happen. I would like to thank each and every one of you.

I am so proud to be involved with this organization, I have been involved in youth sports for almost 20 years now, and this year has been by far the most challenging and the most rewarding.

I can not thank you enough,

Scott Langlois