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Fairfield County Basketball Starts Summer Play

Legendary basketball coach John Wooden once famously said, "Basketball teams are made in the winter. Basketball players are made in the summer." Young elite Fairfield County basketball players from rising sixth-graders up through high school varsity stars have taken that message to heart and started their summer season play.

In winter, the Fairfield County Basketball League represents more than 240 middle school "travel" basketball teams, making it one of the largest youth sports leagues in the nation. In summer, a local subset of those teams reconvene to refresh their skills in the air-conditioned gyms of Darien High, Weston High and Stamford High.

The games have referees and scores are tabulated, but no standings are kept and no trophies are awarded. "It's more about just getting good players in the gym to play with and against other good players," said summer league director Doug Scott. "If we lived in a higher density population urban area, we probably wouldn't need this summer league so much. In the big cities, the local playground courts provide the same kind of experience. But in the suburbs, we have to use a few managerial skills to get that critical mass of good players onto one court, at the same time."

In the league, each age and gender group has a "Gym Rat" list. These are the kids who have signed up to play in doubleheaders on any evening when another team is shorthanded and needs extra players. "The typical Fairfield County basketball player, like every other Fairfield County kid is pretty busy in the summer," Scott said. "Chances are that players from any team are going to miss some summer league games. So if a team manager happens to find himself shorthanded on a given game day, he just reaches out to one of the 'gym rats' to round out his squad. And those kids are in basketball heaven, being thrilled to play multiple games with other excellent players in an air-conditioned gym, on a summer's evening."

In summer, the league's focus extends beyond the middle-schoolers. This summer, it hosts 21 boys high school teams, mostly from FCIAC and Fairchester Athletic Association schools. 

"We run a strong varsity league, but may be most proud of our JV league. The JV league provides a place for rising freshmen to play. Rising freshmen can sometimes be the fall-between-the-cracks age. They are beyond their eighth-grade travel programs, but their respective high school basketball staffs haven't met them yet. So we are often able to use our middle school team connections to help mix those players into teams that also have rising sophomores and juniors on them. We also try to run the JV games on different nights than the varsity games, because there are often players that are in the stage of playing at both levels."

This marks the seventh year of the summer league, and just like its winter counterpart, the league has reached new highs in participation.

Do you play basketball in summer?

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