KOLOA — Josiah Cramer, a sixth-grade student at the Alaka‘i O Kaua‘i Public Charter School, loves basketball, and is excited about being able to return to the courts.
Cramer will be part of the Boys Basketball Club that was announced by school Director David Adams on Monday.
Alaka‘i O Kaua‘i Public Charter School will be hosting both a Girls Basketball Club and a Boys Basketball Club at the campus’ gymnasium located in the Kahili Valley, with the clubs starting play from Feb. 3 and playing until the end of April.
“We all understand and appreciate how difficult it has been for sports in our society,” Adams said. “We wanted to host an opportunity while being respectful of health guidelines. As a hoop lover, it’s great to see the National Basketball Association back — even with a unique format.”
The developmental basketball clubs will see play at the school’s gymnasium on Wednesdays after school, with the Girls Basketball Club tipping off from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The Boys Basketball Club have their turn Thursdays from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
“Right now, we unfortunately need to restrict participants to within our school learning community to remain safe and respectful of health guidelines,” Adams said. “Since we already are blessed to be on campus full-time, face-to-face, we have established a safe school bubble and cannot open outside of that bubble yet. We certainly do hope to expand out to other elementary schools in the future, as we are fortunate to have a large gymnasium on campus.”
There is no charge to participants in the club program, where participants are on tap to learn basketball skills and drills under Ms. Kate and Coach Mitch for the girls program.
Adams, as an avid roundball fan, will coach the Boys Basketball Club with the aim of improving one’s game through the learning of basketball skills and drills.
“To start on the boys’ side, we will be doing skill development on dribbling, passing, and shooting for 45 minutes, followed by mini games afterwards,” Adams said. “As we move further into the program, we will explore moving to more games if the skill development catches up to game play. We will change the teams and rosters weekly to start until we can get a fair assessment of abilities. Then, we hope to culminate with a championship tournament in April.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
