Start small, aim high: Biddy Ball

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

The Tulalip Youth Services mission is to serve all youth by utilizing recreational and educational programs. That mission was put to service on Saturday, February 11, in the form of a Biddy Ball tournament.

“2017 Biddy Ball was family fun for everyone, and Tulalip Youth Services wants to thank all of the families, participants and volunteers for helping make this a day to remember for all of the youth that participated,” stated Josh Fryberg, Youth Services Coordinator. “Youth Services is looking forward to many more great programs for 2017.”

Biddy Ball provides a great tool for developing our youth in the sport of basketball while helping children to gain knowledge, skills and competencies that are an important part of a global, multicultural society.

To assist in its mission, Youth Services provided the venue, healthy snacks/drinks and all the modified equipment necessary to fit the young athletes. From the size of the balls, the height of the rims, to the size of the courts, everything about Biddy Ball is slightly modified to permit the young and highly spirited players to learn the fundamentals of the game while indirectly improving a wide range of cognitive and social skills.

Approximately forty mini-hoopers attended, falling under one of three age groups: 3-4 years old, 5-6 years old, and 7-10 years old. Concluding the 1:00pm – 5:00pm event, was an awards ceremony in which each and every participant received a commemorative t-shirt, medallion and trophy for all their hard work.

“Thanks everyone for coming out and bringing your little ballers!,” said Sheena Robinson, Youth Services Activities Specialist. “I enjoyed every little bit of it. The faces when they got their prizes was priceless.”

 

 

Next Generation Biddy Ball

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By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

Tulalip hosted its quarterly biddy ball tournament on Sunday, March 20 at the Greg Williams court located within the Don Hatch Youth Center. The event was open to all kids ages 3-5 and 6-7 years old.

The Tulalip biddy ball program caters to the youngest generation of aspiring hoopers. It features lower nets, a shortened court, and is for young children who are just learning to play the game of basketball.

“It’s a popular sport in our community,” Deyamonta Diaz, Youth Activity Specialist, said following the day’s event. “We’re getting more and more people bringing their children out to learn and play biddy ball. There’s no previous experience necessary. We give them a fundamental style 5-on-5 game so they can learn how to play on a team .”

Biddy ball is really an instructional program setup for children of all level of experience to enjoy. There’s a lot of running around, basic skill sets, and learning the fundamentals of dribbling and shooting a set shot. During one session, the kids practiced drippling back and forth with then their dominant hand, then switched to dribbling with their other hand. While during another session they worked almost entirely on footwork.

The program at one point drew an estimated 50-60 kids. All the kids received a free t-shirt with ‘Next Generation Biddy Ball’ written across it.

 

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Josh Fryberg, Youth Services Activities Coordinator, concluded the basketball-filled event by commenting, “Tulalip biddy basketball turned out great. Thank you everyone that showed up, especially the kids. All of us at Youth Services would like to continue to bring our community together in a good way. Because our biddy ball participation continues to grow we will expand our program so we are having biddy basketball once a month, the 3rd Sunday of each month from 12:00-3:00 p.m.”

Be on the lookout for more information on Tulalip’s biddy ball program in future issues of the syəcəb newspaper and on our Tulalip News Facebook page. If you have any questions or concerns call Tulalip Youth Services at (360) 716-4909.

 

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