For some Norwalk students this winter, not all basketball games will be played at the NPECC with Warrior purple and white, but rather at the John R. Grubb YMCA courts, with mesh Iowa Wolves Metro League jerseys.
Sam Parker is a junior at Norwalk and is going into his second season as head coach of the Y-league basketball team, the Wailing Woods Warriors. Parker said the formation of this team wasn’t a one-man operation.
“The summer of last year, Kayden Frank and I were playing basketball in my driveway, and then we thought it would be a good idea [to start the team],” Parker said. “So we got some of our other friends and made a group chat, and then we made the team a couple months later.”
Parker said that they play in the Iowa Wolves Metro League at the John R. Grubb YMCA in Des Moines. The league is divided into two age groups, freshman and sophomore league and junior and senior league. Last year Parker said there were 15 teams in the freshman and sophomore league, and predicts there will be around 20-30 in the junior and senior league this season.
Parker said that YMCA rules aren’t the same as high school regulation rules.
“It’s a little different,” Parker said. “I think it’s kinda surprising because there’s usually like three referees at each game, so it’s pretty organized. It’s 20-minute halves with a running clock, so it adds some different tactics to it where timeouts are running clock too.”
Parker said that the difference in rules doesn’t bother him.
“I kinda like it more, the running halves,” Parker said. “ It makes it that you have to do a lot more substitutions, kinda keeps the game going.”
Parker said that there are changes to the dates of games as well.
“Every Wednesday last year we would play from December to March, other than winter break,” Parker said. “This year it’s either Saturdays and then some Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
Parker said that registration is open from October to early December, and the fee is $40 per person. A YMCA membership isn’t needed, but the $40 fee applies whether you have a membership or not.
Parker said that some changes are being made to the team this year.
“We’re adding a couple new members because our team last year was only nine guys and there were a lot of games where not everyone was able to make it,” Parker said. “This year especially because there are going to be Saturday games, so not as many people will be able to make it every time so we added two guys to the team.”
Sam isn’t the only Norwalk student to start a Y-League team. Senior Henry Groos created the Southside Snipers and also added two members to their team this year like Parker. Groos used to play basketball for Norwalk High School but decided to stop playing.
“I’ve played basketball basically since I was five until I was a sophomore, and then after my sophomore year, I stopped playing school basketball and started to play with my friends in the Y-league,” Groos said.
Groos said he decided to stop playing school basketball to focus on other things.
“I wanted to focus on running track in the spring, so I decided to run over the winter instead of playing basketball,” Groos said. “It’s hard to train running and basketball at the same time, and the Y-league is a lot less of a commitment so it’s just something fun you do with your friends.”
Kaiden Kunze, a junior at Norwalk, also decided to create a Y-league team this year, the BO Bandits. Kunze said he stopped playing basketball to focus on other things as Henry did.
“I wasn’t going to play [much] and I wanted to focus on track,” he said.
Kunze said there were a handful of benefits of being on a Y team.
“It keeps you active in the winter,” Kunze said. “And it also brings you closer to your friends.”
Groos said creating the Y team had the intention of having a good time.
“We wanted something fun to do over the winter and it’s something that we do to get together and have fun,” Groos said.
Parker said creating the YMCA team was focused on having fun.
“We all knew that we weren’t going to be great varsity basketball players in the future, but it’s not something we just wanted to quit playing in general,” Parker said. “I think the Y-league is a good mix of recreation and actually competitive games, so you’re getting that enjoyment out of playing competitive basketball along with playing with your friends and not having high stakes.”
Parker said that some other YMCA league teams have social media accounts they post on.
“Most of the other teams have instagram accounts, but I think we definitely have the most popular instagram account, at least in the freshman and sophomore league,” Parker said. “This year, hopefully, we can increase our following a little bit.”
Parker said the social media side of the league is an important aspect as well.
“We pride ourselves on our [Instagram] media page,” Parker said. “[It’s] pretty impressive in my opinion. Brady [Wilkening] makes a lot of the graphics, I’ll do some of the posts, Xavier [Bush] does some as well.”
Groos said he looks to make a playoff berth this season.
“We want to go to the Well [Wells Fargo Arena] and take home a championship,” Groos said. “We fell short a little bit last year – track had already started so we couldn’t make it to the playoffs – but we’re trying to take home a championship this year.”
Groos said that he had a warning to the defending champion, Wailing Woods Warriors.
“The Wailing Woods Warriors got nothing on the Southside Snipers,” Groos said.
Parker said he looks forward to the coming season.
“We have our team registered, the season starts in about a month, and we’re ready,” Parker said.
