Whether black or white, a bunch of young Michael Jordans is what the 6- and 7-year-old Junior Bulldogs look like out there on the basketball court every Saturday morning at Glenwood Elementary School in Waukegan.
On one particular Saturday in December, Team 5 (white shirts) and Team 4 (gray shirts) went head to head, with referee Wyatt Whitaker of Gurnee officiating. The whites dribbled to their basket and passed a few times before No. 12 shot and missed. The grays grabbed the rebound, and everyone sprinted for the opposite basket. A gray put the ball through the hoop, and the players again hustled toward the whites’ end of the court.
“Mark, pass it!” yelled a parent from the gym’s stage, where about 20 other parents sat, sometimes smiling, sometimes anxious and always intent on their children’s actions.
The ball went out of bounds, and the referee gave the ball over to the other team.
Back and forth, back and forth the boys raced, making baskets and passes under the direction of their coaches.
“Hey, what do we do? Make good passes, make good passes. You’ve got to look before you pass,” coach Dexter Reid of Waukegan said from the sidelines. Soon his 7-year-old son, Dexter Jr., readied to score a free-throw for his team. “D.J., take your time with the shot. We need them.”
Standing a few feet from Reid was the grays’ coach, Townsend Jones of Waukegan. “Good shot, good shot. That’s the way to work it,” Jones said after one of his players made a basket. “Play good now.”
Although they sound like they could be pros, Jones and Reid are volunteers, as are the other coaches in the Waukegan Park District’s approximately 20-team Bulldogs youth basketball program.
Having volunteers has done wonders in boosting the participation and prestige of the program, which involves about 200 Lake County kids ages 6 to 14, said David Mogle, superintendent of recreation for the park district. His own son, Roger, 6, plays in the program.
The district used to have a youth basketball program where a team from one Waukegan school would play another school, Mogle said. Participation wasn’t that great, and the district couldn’t get many parent volunteers because the kids played after school.
Six years ago the district restructured the program. Participants go through drills to determine their skill levels and are placed on teams that are balanced in terms of talent. Each team practices for one hour on a weeknight at a local school and plays a game every Saturday morning. Six- and 7-year-olds play in the fall and the age groups of 8 to 10, 11 to 12 and 13 to 14 play from January to May.
An integral part of the new setup was to ask parents who registered their kids to volunteer as coaches, thus increasing parent involvement while decreasing expenses for the district.
“That (volunteerism) is what really makes the program go. From a financial standpoint, we wouldn’t be able to handle it if we didn’t have volunteers,” said Mogle, who estimated that professional coaches would cost $10 to $15 an hour.
“It’s worked extremely well,” agreed Jones, who helped to start the program that he is now paid to coordinate. “On game days, the whole family gets involved; brothers, sisters, the works.”
Robert Schaefer of Gurnee was recruited this year to coach the team of his twin 6-year-old sons, Chad and Derek. “It’s an enjoyment to watch (the children) play. Whatever they do, it’s an enjoyment to go out and see them have fun.”
Parental enthusiasm and support fuel the program, as do two other factors, said Herbert Gray, recreational supervisor for the district. One is that basketball has become particularly popular in recent years due to the success of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
Also, parents are looking for more ways to keep their children safe in a time of kidnappings, drugs and other problems, Gray said. “You really can’t send your kids out to play in the streets.”
As a parent, David Hernandez of Waukegan can appreciate that wariness. Speaking as the coach of his 7-year-old son’s team, he said, “I think it’s a privilege to have those kids’ parents trust me.”
Lori Winbush of Waukegan has a 7-year-old son on Jones’ team. “Oh, yeah, yeah, I trust the (parent coaches) and all. They did a real fine job last year, and they’re doing fine this year.”
Patricia McNeely of Waukegan agreed. “They push team spirit and sportsmanship, and I think that’s very important. You don’t want (children) to grow up selfishly.”
Her son Tim, 8, also is on Jones’ team. Jones is a “good coach because he taught us how to play ball,” Tim said. “That’s how we win all the games.”
The three requirements of volunteers are that they have at least one of their own children in the program, basic knowledge of basketball and an understanding of the district’s approach to the program, Gray said.
That approach includes stressing instruction of the game and fun over winning; letting every member of the 9- to 11-player teams play an equal amount of time; welcoming girl players and women coaches, though few females participate; and relaxing the rules (i.e., traveling with the ball is not called) during games involving the youngest kids.
Although not a requirement, a sense of humor apparently is handy.
“The most humorous thing is a lot of times, the (6- and 7-year-olds) forget what basket they’re shooting at. They make a basket and it’s not their own,” Jones said. “They straighten themselves out eventually.”
Jones is a Bulldogs veteran, but this is Reid’s first year coaching. “The first game they played, they didn’t show any skills, and I thought, `This is going to be a long road,’ ” he said, but with each practice the kids improved.
Reid finds that one of the most difficult parts of the job is not showing his son preferential treatment. “I’m trying to show him the difference of being a coach on Wednesday (during practice) and Dad on the rest of the days.”
D.J. Reid thinks his dad has succeeded: “He works (with other players) just like he works with me. I learn about teamwork. It’s fun. You get to score, make the shots and stuff. In one game I made about seven shots. I made them all.”
Watching those feats is such fun for some coaches that they volunteer repeatedly, following their own children onto the older teams. Hernandez explained the benefits of being a coach: “I think my child and I, our relationship has gotten better. We’ve gotten closer.”
Brian Hernandez takes the credit for getting his dad to coach. “I asked him to (be a coach). I don’t know, he’s just a great coach.”
It’s turned out to be a great experience, Hernandez said. “They enjoy whether they make a basket or not. . . . Just having their parents watch them, they get a real kick out of that.”
He acknowledged, however, that it’s sometimes tough to deal with energetic little kids who can be competitive, easily distracted and fun-loving all at once.
Hernandez said he doesn’t mind if they’re competitive and aggressive as long as they learn how to win and lose graciously, correct their mistakes, work as a team and otherwise handle the emotional side of the game.
Hernandez added that it’s been wonderful to see his son develop leadership, sportsmanship and self-esteem. “This year I see a real change in him.”
