My son recently became a deacon and was invited to play ward basketball for the first time this week. We got there right at 7pm (in the middle of the prayer), and discovered my son was the 5th guy there for his team. Good thing he showed up!
To my surprise, my 12 year old son was playing with teachers and priests. My son is pretty tall for his age, but he was definitely the shortest guy on the team. I was a bit surprised, because we live in a huge Utah County ward, and have probably close to a dozen deacons, dozen teachers, and probably a handful of priests, so it was a bit surprising to see that between 30 active young men, our ward could only seem to manage to get 5 guys to show up. But at least we didn’t forfeit. One of the priests on the team had an obviously sore ankle, and he limped up and down the floor. Yet even with just 5 (not very good) guys who played the entire game, our team blew out the other team by almost 30.
I haven’t played church basketball in years, and it brought back a lot of memories. When I was a deacon, I lived in New England. We probably only had about a dozen active young men in the whole ward, spread across several towns. So yes, like my son, I played on an Aaronic Priesthood team with guys much older and better than I. I don’t remember wins and losses, but we weren’t very good. I was a little intimidated playing with the older guys, but had fun.
Around 14 years old, we moved to Ogden, Utah. Ogden had a lot more boys my age, so we had a Teachers Quorum team. To be honest, I didn’t like the guys in my ward (and really didn’t like my ward.) Everyone was really snooty, acted like they were rich, and it just wasn’t a fun ward. I played a little bball, but it wasn’t very fun. We lived in the ward just a year and moved when our house in New England finally sold. Our family moved to another ward across town that I call the Nursing Home ward. (I think the average age was like 80.) I think we had a Teacher’s Quorum team again, but I don’t have many memories of it. Soon, I tried out for the high school basketball team, and made the team, so my church ball days were done for a few years.
After high school, I played on the Elder’s Quorum team. Ogden has some pretty competitive players in church ball, and ability seems to have nothing to do with competitiveness. One of the things that drove me nuts was the fact that the referees often didn’t know the rules of the game. I remember one ref blew his whistle and said, “Uhh, I don’t know what to call, but that didn’t look right.” The refs were really bad (especially compared to the paid, high school refs.) I’m pretty tall, so I would often post up and hit some easy baskets at the beginning, so the other team would put their fattest guy on me, who would lean on me constantly–yet no fouls were called. I felt a little like Hack A Shaq.
This was a stake where the adage goes like this: “Church basketball. The only fight that starts with a prayer.” We had several brawls. The stake tried lots of things to cut down on the fighting, by banning referees and making it more like a pick-up game–call your own fouls. That just resulted in more arguments. I just wish we could have tried paid, trained refs. I remember going for a fast break layup, and being body slammed into a chalkboard. It wasn’t much fun, and the hard fouls continued.
After my mission, I decided to attend the (Weber State) college wards in Ogden. The college stake decided to let us play intramural ball with the college–and paid referees! Somehow, my team got 4 of 5 starters who had all played high school ball, and we blew away the rest of the stake by about 30 points per game. (The other guys off our bench were really good too–I’m not sure how we managed to get such a good team together.) I can’t tell you how nice it was to have trained, paid referees (as well as guys who knew how to run plays.) But when playoffs started, the college decided to move us up to the competitive league. We won our first playoff game, but lost the second. It was one of the funnest teams I’ve even played on.
Later, I attended a University of Utah stake where they had co-ed basketball–and once again trained referees. (It makes SUCH a difference.) With co-ed, there were 2 guys and 3 gals on a team, and the rule was that the guys could not enter the key at all, so the guys often played guard. I remember stealing the ball, running to the other end, and trying to do a layup without going into the key! It was a fun, unique experience. We had a couple of gals who were good bball players, so our team did pretty well.
Since that time, I’ve played on a few church teams, but I get really frustrated with the poor officiating, poor sportsmanship, and general bad play. I miss the college days! (and I think I’ve resolved not to play unless we have trained referees.) I haven’t played church ball in more than the 15 years I’ve been married, so it was interesting to come into the gym to watch my son. It was also funny to watch the referees attempt half-court shots during timeouts in the game. I played on a few work teams in a city league, and that is definitely a much better experience than church ball.
I also remember hearing from old-timers talk about the All Church Basketball Tournament (from like the 1950s I think) where the Church actually sponsored a basketball tournament, and wards could compete not just in stake basketball tournaments, but regional and a big church tournament, with the finals in Salt Lake. (I’m sure teams were limited to Utah, but it sure sounded competitive and fun.) Those days are long gone, and I wonder if it was discontinued because of the poor sportsmanship. I don’t think I’ve heard of anything more that Stake Champs now. (I did coach my younger brother’s team to a Stake Championship–our team won on a last second shot.)
At least my son’s team, while not nearly as competitive as the teams in Ogden, had good sportsmanship. What are your memories of church ball?
i sucked at basketball growing up, but was talented at other sports. it really stunted me socially, and made me feel awful about myself.
I didn’t grow up in the church, so I missed Church Ball. (After my baptism, I did play men’s softball and volleyball in a couple of different wards, but that might be a different post.) Besides, like PangWitch, I suck at basketball, despite my height.
My ward and stake has traditionally had a healthy group of YM, including my 3 sons, but despite this fact, Church hoops in our area is not really big. If a YM is interested in basketball, he’s playing for his junior high or HS team, or a traveling team (another abominable Satanic suck of parental time and money that didn’t exist during my carefree childhood). That decreases the amount of time he’s willing or able to spend on Church ball. The ones who are not so encumbered are not so encumbered because they are no good at, or don’t care about, basketball.
Nor do their fathers, a major impetus to youth sports participation in my day. We hear a lot about the trend of youth recreation away from “wholesome” (H/T HG) outdoor activities to video games and computers. I’ve noted that we’re starting to see the first wave of YM whose fathers spent their time warming couches instead of benches. Demographically, I’m on the “old” end. I’ll be 50 this spring (I know; hard to believe, ain’t it? And I still look this fetchin’ good!) and my youngest son is 16. The fathers of deacons and beehives in our Mutual organization were born while I was in high school, and received the Aaronic Priesthood during the Clinton Administration (or were Bush I lame-ducks).
GameBoy and Genesis came out in ’89, Super NES in ’91, Playstation in ’95. About the time we should have been handing these boys basketballs and sending them into fistfights in our “Cultural Halls,” we were handing them console controllers. And then we made building, programming, and marketing the darned things, and assorted ancillary jobs, the hottest things in the business world.
Then we let those boys reproduce, and here we are – I haven’t seen a good brawl in my ward’s gym since Sister Foster took the last chocolate Rice Krispie bar at the August Linger Longer.
Call it irony or call it poetic justice, the most active Church ball in my stake and region is played by – the adult women.
The All-Church basketball tournaments included stakes throughout the Mormon corridor, not just Utah. My grandfather’s team from a ward north of Idaho Falls made the finals twice, once as a player and again as a coach. (Jessee’s “Sprituaized Recreation” tracks the rise and fall of All-Church Athletics.)
In the 1990’s our stake in SE Idaho had Bball, softball, and YW volleyball. 20 years later, it’s a 4-week (one game a week) 3-on-3 round-robin, and no other sports at all.
I think that as community sports have grown, the church has wisely backed away from spending so much $$ on church ball. Many new building have a carpeted cultural hall or only a half-court gym. Now I wish they could ban the community leagues and non-mormon pick-up games from dominating the gym schedule.
Everywhere I have lived in the last 10 years, church ball is all but dead. Seems it went out with roadshows and other staples of church youth life that I knew, especially as church-sponsored community recreation programs are less relevant now. Newer chapels are being built without hardwood gymnasiums and stages. Might be for insurance reasons too.
I never cared for church ball, so good riddance.
I remember watching some of the wild and crazy games back when the all church tournament was still held. I was quite young at the time. I am over 60 now. They were amazing high energy games where all of the wanabe ex-high school and college players would seek their second round of fame..
I grew up in the Monument Park Stake just above Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. It was a rather influential area on the east bench that covered Oak Hills and Indian Hills, etc.
Billionaire Jon Huntsman was one of our Stake Presidents and Apostle Ballard was in our stake.
We had lots of competitive games with lots of fights.
I was a natural athlete that loved sports but I was a late bloomer with regard to basketball. At that time in my life I was in to soccer and I set the pole vaulting record in 9th grade at 10 ft 4 in using a steel pole.
I was not all that good at basketball during my high school days, although I loved to play, but many years after my mission, and after hundreds of pick up games, I became a legend in my own mind until I blew out my ACL in a three on three game at the ward house.
In my early days during high school, I remember seeing LDS author, parenting guru, and political activist, Richard Eyer get into a heated scuffle during a basket ball game. He was in my ward.
My claim to fame was a basket I made during a ward BB game from the other end of the court. The game was being refereed by future NBA player, Jeff Judkins.
He went crazy when the ball randomly made it into the hoop. He laughed his head off because it was such a lucky shot.
He could not play ward ball at the time because he was playing at the U of U, but he would help by refereeing. He went on to play in the NBA for a few years.
Great times.. lots of angry scuffles.
I played a lot of church ball growing up. Our branch’s girls team did pretty well in the stake, and I played a few different positions: guard, forward, and even the center once in a pinch (I wasn’t great as the center). We had one coach who more or less coached us to play dirty. But we were nothing compared to some of the wards whose girls routinely played on the sympathies of the referees by manufacturing fouls. They were the biggest floppers ever, and the LDS referees ate it up with a spoon, always looking for a victim to rescue. It was infuriating. But those are some of my fondest YW memories.
Jeff Judkins is truly one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. He was in the bishopric of the ward I attended at the U of U. I remember the first time I attended the ward, I saw he was in the bishopric, and turned to a friend and said, “That’s Jeff Judkins.” My friend didn’t seem to understand why I was so excited. Since it was Testimony meeting, I decided to get up and say how great it was to see someone of Jeff’s caliber in the bishopric. A few weeks later, Jeff called me in to be the ward athletic director.
I had watched him as a kid at the U, and then he was drafted by the Boston Celtics. He started on a really bad Celtics team, and I still remember a half-court shot he made at halftime against he Seattle Supersonics. Then the Celtics drafted some dude named Larry Bird, and Jeff’s minutes in Boston plummeted, and he was traded. It was great seeing him coach at the U, but Rick Majerus and Chris Hill treated him very badly. It’s a shame that he left Utah for BYU, though I root for him (and his women’s bball team.) He is truly the definition of class act.
Amen to that.
Judkins is a class act.
I was always terrible at sports–not competitive at all, slow and uncoordinated. When I was a Beehive my ward had 2 basketball teams. My sister was a Laurel and was captain of one of the teams. She and I spent hours on the school playground with her coaching me and yelling at me. I never tried a shot in a church game–too scary! Then we moved on to volleyball. I practiced and practiced so I could get a serve over the net, but I would never try to return. When softball arrived, I suddenly realized that church sports were not a gospel requirement, so I didn’t do softball and never played church sports again! Our ward always had plenty of girls to make a team, though.
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