Village Chronicles

The Velocity Sports Performance 12 U boys travel basketball team came up with its second tournament victory of the sea­son, winning the June 24-28 Bulls Acad­emy Summer Jam Tournament with an impressive 42-27 victory over Bulls Acad­emy Lisle in the championship game at the United Center in Chicago.

“Knowing we lost to [this team] in a pre­vious game 47-32, it was a little tense going into the championship game against them,” said first-year head coach Dan Howard. “But this victory shows just how confident our team is, and the strides we’ve made toward becoming better.”

Aside from the usual pre-game butter­flies before a championship game, the 12U boys had the added pressure of perform­ing at the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls; a venue where many players dream of playing at the NBA level.

“When we arrived at the United Center, everyone had their cameras out and were taking pictures with their families,” said Howard. “But once all that was over, I had to sit them down in the locker room and remind them we were not there to take pic­tures—we were there to play basketball.”

And play basketball they did, by domi­nating the opposition in consecutive wins of 42-20, 40-14 and 42-27 in their last three games. It was an accomplishment that sent many families home very happy after a tough tournament.

“We think that all the hard work the kids have put in through training at Velocity Sports Performance and playing a very tough schedule paid big dividends this weekend,” said team parent Ken Bacorn, who congratulated Coach Howard and the boys on a great achievement.

The tough schedule included playing teams with much older players early in the season, which can be demoralizing to some young players, but it served to make the players on this team stronger.

“This team’s abilities are only limited by how good they want to be,” says Howard.

The 12U boys basketball team is based out of Velocity Sports Performance in Warrenville and includes the following players: Jordan Glasgow, Scott Strom, Zachary Lendino, Marcus Mims, Mitchell Mims, Ronnie Griggs, Brennan Warnick, Scott Michaels, and Eric Bacorn.

Visit velocitysp.com for information on tryouts for Velocity baseball and basketball programs and to follow the continued suc­cess of the 12U Velocity Sports Perform­ance boys basketball team.