By T. Scott Boatright
A common complaint heard on college and professional basketball courts these days is that even players talented enough to compete on those levels don’t know enough about the basic fundamentals of the game.
For 17 years now, elementary schools in Lincoln Parish have been striving to teach those fundamentals to their student athletes, and that work will be celebrated Saturday with the tip-off of the 2023 Lincoln Parish Elementary School Jamborees at the Ruston Sports Complex.
All games will consist of two 12-minute halves with running clocks only for jamboree play.
Cypress Springs Elementary School coach Carlton Huey has been part of the parish program since its inception.
“I’ve been at Cypress Springs for 10 years, but we started the program 17 years ago when I was at Glenview Elementary (School),” Huey said. “Kevin Hill at Ruston Elementary and I started it . He’s not there anymore, but it was my second year at Glenview and I went to him and told him I wanted to start a basketball league. I had been outside at recess watching the kids and realized how good some of them were.
“His first response was that I was crazy, but after thinking it over for a night, he called me back and said, ‘Let’s do it.’ And that’s how it all started.”
Huey called coaching players that young as “more than honor.”
“It’s incredibly rewarding,” Huey said of coaching the elementary athletes. “Because in doing so, I know that by the time they get to high school they’ll be ready for a state championship or college or whatever.
“We’re teaching them fundamentals so that when they get to their high coaches, they’ll have it all together and will be ready to go.
Huey said he saw proof of that last year.
“The Ruston High boys team that went to state last year — they were our boys that were out there playing,” Huey said. “And we knew in the fourth- and fifth-grade they were that good. Players like Zheric Hill and Aiden Anding — we coached those guys in elementary school and saw how good they were. Ahmad Hudson is a talented freshman for the Bearcats, but he played for us at Cypress Springs first.”
“I had a parent today with a junior and sixth-grader that sent me a collage of her boys when they were playing for me at Cypress Springs. It doesn’t get much more rewarding than that. We take out teams now to watch ‘our guys’ at Ruston High. And it all started 17 years ago with Ruston Elementary, Glenview, Cypress Springs and what was then Alma J. Brown (in Grambling). Those were the four schools we started all of this with. And now we have every (public) school in Lincoln Parish involved.”
Huey said that now that Lincoln Preparatory School has a gym, it will field a team this year as will Simsboro and Choudrant.
This year’s jamboree will also feature Arcadia’s Crawford Elementary as well as Jonesboro-Hodge Elementary.
Saturday’s girls schedule begins at 10 a.m. with Cypress Springs vs. Simsboro, followed by Joneboro-Hodge vs. RES at 11 a.m., Choudrant vs. Crawford at noon and Lincoln Prep vs. Crawford at 1 p.m.
On the boys’ side, Saturday’s action will tip off with Lincoln Prep playing Crawford at 10 a.m., Dubach facing Simsboro at 11 a.m, Cypress Springs taking on Jonesboro-Hodge at noon and Choudrant vs. RES at 1 p.m.
Admission to the jamboree will be $5 for everyone with children 5-and-under being able to attend for free.
