Laid-Back Layups : Summer League Basketball Means Having Fun

A missed slam dunk clanged off the rim and laughter echoed off the walls of St. Bernard gym. A Culver City High School player hung his head in embarrassment as teammates roared in delight at his misfortune.

The absence of Coach Marty Siegel didn’t matter to the players. Neither did a 32-point deficit. They were playing to have a good time. They did.

“Kevin Brown just made himself coach,” Culver City player James Williams said with a laugh. “He just took over. You know how young guys are, it just got to be chaos. But it was fun. That’s what it’s all about.”

Fun is definitely the name of the game at the St. Bernard’s Summer Basketball League. Eight prep teams gather together on Thursday evenings for off-season roundball action. The play is sometimes rusty, but the smiles are never out of season.

“For kids who want to be basketball players, you can’t beat it,” Carson High Coach Richard Masson said. “It’s fun, loose, not as much pressure to win.”

St. Bernard Coach Jim McClune said those are the reasons for the summer league. He’s been director of the league for six years and has been involved with it in some way for a decade.

“It’s got a lot of the pluses of the regular season and not as many of the negatives,” McClune said. “You don’t see too many coaches creaming or yelling. I can’t remember a technical foul on a coach.”

Everyone agrees that the biggest plus is the laid-back atmosphere. Players show up if they want to. Coaches wear shorts instead of ties. And they’re more concerned with watching their own guys instead of the opposition.

“I don’t know,” Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said when asked who his team played. “I just know we play at 5.”

The calm atmosphere of the summer league is a breath of fresh air for everyone. The constant pressure to win that shadows regular-season games is absent. Play is more enjoyable.

“It’s more relaxed,” Ronald Gardette of St. Bernard said. “There’s not really anything to get up-tight about. You just go out there and play. You play your own game and you don’t have to worry about coach getting on you too much.”

“It’s more like people can do what they want to do,” Santa Monica’s Mark Harper said.

What the players want to do is just play basketball. No hassles from the playground. No hollering from the coaches. Just a ball and a hoop.

“I live in an apartment, so I have to go down to the park if I want to play,” Gardette said. “It’s always crowded. Sometimes I don’t even get to practice. That’s why I’m glad we got summer league.”

Games at St. Bernard are informal affairs but do feature referees and the usual rules of basketball. But while a game clock runs, the score on the board is usually not the important issue.

“I don’t try to lose games, but I’m not real concerned about losing this type of game,” Azzam said.

What everyone is concerned about is improvement. Players work on moves and weaknesses. Most find it’s better to try something difficult. Mistakes are shrugged off instead of shouted about.

“We try new things to see if they work,” Eric Bender of Carson said. “I’m weak with my left hand, so I try to go with my left more than I would in a regular league.”

“You’re learning,” St. Bernard’s Juno Armstrong said. “You’re making your game better and making your team better. It’s fun because you know you’re helping each other out.”

The league helps the coaches by providing them additional time to judge their players. Waves of substitutes race in and out of the games. Everyone plays.

The constant turnover gives reserves a chance to see action--and coaches a chance to see who can play and who can’t.

“The summer league is the first coming-of-age experience for a lot of these players,” McClune said.

“Every year, there ends up a kid who if it wasn’t for summer league, he wouldn’t be a varsity player,” Masson said.

The players seem to enjoy the free substituting. Even a star like Armstrong doesn’t mind getting yanked to allow a younger player to gain experience.

“It’s good,” Armstrong said. “We might sacrifice a couple of games now because we’re playing our bench. But in the long run it pays off because we know the type of guys we can count on.”

The mass substituting and lack of practice makes for sloppy play at times. But not always. There are too many good players on the floor to let chaos reign.

“Year in and year out, this is a very strong league,” Camarillo Coach John Harbour said.

The list of league veterans shows that. In the past, such notable players as Corey Gaines, Leonard Taylor, Bobby Thompson, Mike Yoest and Kevin Floyd have played in the St. Bernard league.

The stock of talent raises the competitiveness. Everyone knows the games are for fun. But when the clocks ticks down with the score tied, it looks like March again.

“That’s a credit to the kids’ competitive drive,” McClune said.

Harbour is one coach who admits his competitive drive tends to take over, even in the summer.

“I probably get carried away,” he said with a sly grin. “I try to put some heat on them to see how they react. I’m probably more intense in the summer than a lot of coaches.”

Harbour’s bellowing voice reveals his intensity. But then, he drives his players 55 miles every Thursday to play in the St. Bernard League. He doesn’t travel that far for no reason.

“As a coach you’re trying to develop players and see who can play at the varsity level,” Harbour said. “This (relaxed) atmosphere can be a disadvantage because only certain kids function real well in these surroundings.”

Harbour’s approach is the exception. Some players do get lost in the shuffle of substitutes or suffer from lack of concentration. Still, everyone enjoys the easy style of the league. Nobody is forced to play.

“I do it because I want to do it,” Bender said.

“We want to play, we don’t have to be here,” Armstrong said. “I’m turning down a water ski trip with my parents to play in a couple of games.”

As league director, McClune has given up some nights in the last few summers. But like the league itself, the benefits outweigh the negatives. That’s why he still can be found at the St. Bernard gym every Thursday evening.

“Things like this keep the kids connected and able to socialize,” McClune said. “You hear the thing about keeping them off the streets. I’m sure there’s truth to that. It’s got to be better than hanging around some liquor store or hanging around a mall.”