DIDSBURY -- A group of young basketball players are working on their skills, practising and playing with the Didsbury FunTeam Basketball league.
The league, which is in its fourth year, meets once a week at Westglen School in Didsbury.
Organizer Allan Whitehead said the group has two separate age groups, with grades 2-4 in one group and grades 5-7 in the other.
"We have 31 players in the younger group and 22 in the older one," said Whitehead. "The players come from Olds, Didsbury and Carstairs, with most coming from Didsbury."
Whitehead, vice-principal at Westglen and community coach, started the FunTeam league along with Zoe Holdstock.
"We started it because there were no youth basketball programs in the area for kids younger than 12 or 13," he said. "I grew up playing basketball in Calgary at a young age and wanted other kids to have that opportunity.
"As a high school coach out here, I could see the difference in fundamental skills that kids who grew up in areas with minor basketball had. So hopefully we will start to see that gap close."
Whitehead said the main focus for the league is on developing skills and having fun.
"Our goal is to introduce local kids to basketball," he said. "We want to develop fundamental skills like dribbling, shooting, passing and defence, and to make it enjoyable and a fun experience so they keep playing."
