Pelham Panthers basketball registration in full swing
The Niagara JUEL girls basketball team is one of 30 travel teams run by the Pelham Panthers Basketball Association.
Registration is in full swing for the Pelham Panthers Basketball Association.
With tryouts set to start for the travel teams shortly, more than 300 players have already registered for their quest to be a Panther.
The Panthers will be running anywhere from 26 to 28 travel teams and that doesn’t include the associations Juel, Juel Prep and Juel Academy squads
“It’s a lot of admin work and getting gyms. Having the community centre and the gyms at Notre Dame and E.L. Crossley helps,” Pelham Panthers president Brian Bleich said.
The number of travel teams has grown considerably since the association added the various Juel teams. There has also been a huge influx of high school-aged boys players.
Pelham has multiple boys team from the under-15 level right through to the under-19 level. In a few of the age categories, there are three travel teams.
“We try to provide for everybody as much as we can for the kids who want to play,” Bleich said.
On the girls side, there are one to two travel teams in each of the age categories.
Pelham will once again be a hotspot for Ontario Basketball Association play this fall and winter. The association will be hosting league games every weekend at the Pelham Community Centre as part of its partnership with the OBA. It will also continue to build upon its hosting of Ontario Basketball Cups (provincial championships) last season.
Last season, the Panthers hosted under-10, under-11 and under-14, under-15 and under-16 girls and under-12, under-13, under-17 and under-19 boys provincial championships. Pelham partners with other Niagara basketball associations to host the provincial championships.
“It is because Niagara has the infrastructure. We have the facilities and the hotel accommodations to go along with it. Using Canada Games Park, the Meridian Centre, Niagara College, Notre Dame and the surrounding high schools, we are one of the few regions in the province that can host up to 20 courts in one weekend within a close distance,” Bleich said.
Club team tryouts will start the week of Aug. 25 and all players must be registered to participate. Tryouts will be at the Pelham Meridian Community Center. There is a $25 tryout fee and once teams are selected, the registration for travel players is $925.
At the house league level, the association had 380 participants and a waiting list for the last several years. There are still spots available but spaces fill up fast once school starts. The association expects to have 400 house league players registered this year.
The house league schedule is: Tuesday nights from Oct.15 until Feb. 25 for players in Grades 1 and 2; Wednesday nights from Oct.16 to Feb. 26 for Grade 3 to 8; and, Thursday nights from Oct.17 to Feb. 27 for junior and senior kindergarten groups.
“We have moved from Saturdays to weekdays. We had a survey the year before and the parents were asking for weekdays instead of weekends,” Bleich said. “We were finding that parents want to keep their weekends free and do family things. COVID has changed a lot of people and people want their free time. We found going to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night at the community centre has allowed us to use the four courts and we can do better programming instead of doing one gym at Crossley all day on Saturday.”
All house league games will be played at the community centre at times to be determined. There is a $225 registration fee.
To register visit https://www.pelhambasketball.ca. For anyone with questions about registration contract Andrea Hurley at ppba.registrar@gmail.com.
