The Nazzaro Center-NEAA basketball program is almost in full swing now that the 3rd component, the Varsity League, has tipped off on its opening day to join both the Junior Varsity and the Instructional League, which had previously begun their seasons. The Instructional League (ages 4-7ish) and the JV (grades 3 through 6) both play on Saturdays, with the former meeting for basic drills, instruction and an informal “game” at 10 am and the latter anywhere from noon to 3 pm. The JV consists of 6 teams who each play a structured game each week complete with a full schedule, team shirts, coaches, scorekeeping, weekly standings and a year ending play-off to a championship. The Varsity (grades 7-9) operates much the same as the JV only it meets on Thursday evenings each week when four teams stage two games. Highlights of the season include All*Star games at Harvard, one trip for each team to a Celtics game, a fantastic Final Four March Madness week-end (in February) and a stylish awards banquet where each participant receives at least one award.
I said that the program was “almost” in full swing because yet to come are various travel teams, all called the “NEAA Knights”, who play in a local CYO league against other neighborhoods. The Knights program has 6 separate teams, Boys 3rd+4th Grade, 5th+6th Grade, 7th+8th Grade and 16-under and Girls 5th+6th Grade and High School division. There is still plenty of room for all interested basketball players in most divisions from the instructional all the way up to the Varsity and traveling teams. Cost is just $25 for the season for Instructional and JV and only $5 for Varsity! Traveling teams are free but one must be a participant in either the JV or Varsity to try out.
For more information on any of the above programs, you can call the Nazzaro Center at 617-635-5166 and ask for program AD Carl Ameno.
