It’s hard for coach Amber Paulsen to contain her pride when she watches her team of young girls play basketball.
“My heart literally tingles when I see the girls rolling on the ground for a ball,” Paulsen said. “I support basketball for young girls because the role of women is not necessarily strong in our society, so as a mom I really want my girls to participate in something that is empowering for them. When I see them being assertive, I’m really proud.”
SWISH Youth Basketball League brings together fifth through eighth graders from 11 Washington counties for close to a dozen games over a 10-week period. Orcas Island has been involved with boys and girls SWISH since 1998. The program is run by Skagit Valley Parks and Rec.
The boys start practice in January 2011, while the girls’ season started at the end of October and culminated in two weekends of tournaments in December. The fifth grade team came in first in its division; the sixth graders took home second; the seventh graders came in fourth; and the eighth grade team brought home third place.
The fifth grade team was led by Kelly Toombs and Autumn Boehm; Tim Hance and Barb Skotte coached the sixth graders; Paulsen and Megan Sanders led the seventh graders; and Eric Crowe and Vicki Vandermay coached the eighth graders. All of the positions are 100 percent volunteer.
“It was awesome,” said Crowe, whose daughter Hailey has participated for several seasons. “The girls were challenging but fun. Thirteen-year-old girls can definitely be challenging. But I really enjoyed it.”
Starting in October, the girls practiced after school three days a week at the Orcas Christian School and public school gym. Many of their weekends were spent playing against teams on the mainland. Paulsen says Skagit Parks and Rec has long supported Orcas Island’s involvement.
“They made it possible for us to play double headers so we didn’t have the cost of going off island every single weekend,” Paulsen said.
Seventh-grader Bethany Griffin says she joined SWISH two years ago because “my friends were playing and they wanted me to join.”
“I like basketball in general, and my friends are with me, so it makes it even more fun,” she said. “Sometimes if I had a lot of homework, I would stay home, but I usually did homework and then went to practice.”
The $150 price tag for playing on a SWISH team can be a deterrent for some young players. The money goes towards the entry fee, uniforms, and gym rental. Each parent is also responsible for travel costs, so many families carpool. Despite the financial burden, this year’s turnout for the fifth and sixth grade team was enormous, nearly double the number who participated last year.
“The future of basektball on Orcas is really positive because there is so much interest,” said Paulsen, whose two daughters, 11-year-old Katelyn and 12-year-old Emma, both played in the league. “Most of the these kids started playing in the fourth grade. I am really excited for high school basketball.”
