Tryouts Scheduled for Saturday, October 23; Fourteen Teams Set for Nov. 7 "Turner Classic"

Charles Turner (pictured), who coached in the Binghamton Travel Basketball program, as well as in the YMCA program, lost his battle to leukemia in April 2009. This year we will rename our tuneup tournament in his honor - the Charles Turner Classic.

Travel Tryouts

The Binghamton Travel Basketball program will hold tryouts for two teams from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, October 23, at the downtown Binghamton YMCA.

Players will try out for two teams which will play in the Rage Slim Sylvester League in the 2010-2011 season, competing (and in some cases, traveling to play) against other school district-based teams from around the Southern Tier. This is a competitive basketball league.

Players eligible to try out must be in the 5th or the 6th grades. Players in 4th grade may try out, but they should have a very solid skill set to do so.

There is no fee to try out. Players who make a team will need to pay for their uniform, however, which they will keep after the season. (Uniforms, with players' names on the back, as well as the players' choice of number, typically cost less than $50.)

Turner Classic
The annual tuneup tournament for our league will be renamed/rededicated this year in honor of our friend Charles Turner, who in 2009 lost his courageous fight to leukemia. The new name for the tournament will be the Coach Charles Turner Tuneup Tournament, and the tourney will be played on Sunday, November 7, with all games to be played at the downtown Binghamton YMCA.
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Fourteen teams have committed to play in the tournament this year. They are:

* Binghamton 6

* Binghamton 5

* Susquehanna Valley 6

* Susquehanna Valley 5

* Whitney Point 6

* Whitney Point 5

* Owego Apalachin 6

* Owego Apalachin 5

* Athens 6

* Athens 5

* Vestal 6 (Moyer)

* Vestal 6 (O'Hara)

* Maine-Endwell 6

* Chenango Valley 6

More information: Stephen Jensen at 743-0582.

Summer sessions were well attended

Twelve players attended the final scrimmage session Saturday morning, August 28, at Cheri Lindsey Park. They were among more than 32 players who played in at least a few sessions of the seven over a three-week span this past summer.


As many as 32 players representing 8 different area school districts took part in our summer scrimmage sessions at Cheri Lindsey Park in Binghamton. Players from grade 4 up through grade 8 participated.

School districts that were represented: Binghamton, Susquehanna Valley, Chenango Valley, Chenango Forks, Newark Valley, Whitney Point, Owego Apalachin and Candor.

Players participated in the program free of charge.

Thanks very much to those who volunteered their time to officiate, to keep the score book, to run the clock and to those parents who transported players, especially those coming from relatively far distances.

And, of course, thanks (and congratulations) to the kids for atending and working on their basketball games in August.