A summer on the court
Phil Bushre stalks the sideline, his eyes focused on the action in the back court.
"Reverse the basketball!" the Slippery Rock High boys coach bellows. "Reverse it!"
Seconds later Bushre's coaching counterpart, Rob Carmody of Mars, barks out his own commands.
"Trap it! Trap it!" he exclaims.
You'd think this was a playoff game in March before a throng of full-throated, frenzied fans. But this game, pitting Slippery Rock against Mars, is being played in a sweltering gym in June.
The coaches, usually decked out in dress shirts, pants and polished shoes, wear shorts and sandals.
While the dress code is relaxed, the importance of these games isn't.
What is done in June is just as important as what is done when the games tip off in the winter.
"You can't get this in an open gym," Carmody said.
Former Slippery Rock High boys coach Sean Strickland started the school's summer basketball league in 2006 as a way to give his players — and those in surrounding communities — a place to play in the summer.
When Strickland left for an job as assistant women's coach at Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) University in 2008, some feared the league would die.
But Bushre, who took over the Rockets boys program, not only kept the league chugging along, but he attracted eight of the other 11 Butler County basketball teams to play in the league.
The only county teams absent are Summit Academy, Butler and Seneca Valley.
That has led to a true fraternity among county coaches and players, Bushre said.
"You root for coaches sometimes, not even teams," Bushre said. "I'm good friends with (Freeport coach) Garrie Davies, so I'm always seeing how they are doing. Jim Marron at A-C Valley is a great guy, I follow how they are doing. You find yourself looking in the Butler Eagle to see how did these other teams do."
It also give the players a sense of the competition around them.
"The kids can put faces to the names they see in the Butler Eagle," Bushre said.
It's also an invaluable tool for coaches who either are trying to fine tune their seasoned players or getting valuable court time for inexperienced ones.
For Freeport and Mars, two teams that will enter the 2010-11 season with inexperience and unknowns, the summer is of paramount importance.Freeport lost four starters, including Butler Eagle Boys Player of the Year Darius Frantz."The key thing is they are playing," Davies said. "In rural communities, kids just need a place to play basketball, and this provides that."The league, which is 18 teams strong, has a six-week regular season followed by playoffs. Rival teams, like Slippery Rock and Grove City, Karns City and Moniteau, and Mars and Knoch, don't play each other in the league.The league can function with so many games in such a short period of time because of the facilities on the Slippery Rock High campus."I have three gyms at my disposal within walking distance," Bushre said."We have great teams," he added. "Every game is competitive. There are no blowouts. "That's a big draw for Union coach Karen Davis, whose team has participated every summer since the league's inception.Basketball has long since stopped being a November-to-March sport, Davis said."Years ago, you didn't have this stuff going on," Davis said. "So, if you didn't do anything in the summer, it was like, 'Oh, well, it's OK.' Nowadays, if you don't do this stuff, you are way behind."It might be summer, but the intensity can rise to March Madness proportions, particularly when two hungry, competitive teams square off — like Slippery Rock and Mars did Wednesday.While most of the games have a laid-back vibe, some, like the Rockets-Planets battle, which was won by Slippery Rock thanks to a second-half rally spurred by senior guards Brian Giesler and Alec McDeavitt, can become spirited — and valuable."For a summer league game, that was very well played," Carmody said. "That Giesler kid is as good as you are going to see. McDeavitt can shoot the ball."Our young guys need to see that, especially in our league. Those two are Micah Mason of Highland. That's Geoff Fuquay of Valley. It's an excellent league."
