As the Westminster basketball season has come to a close, a new league, full of Westminster student-athletes, has taken over.  The South County YMCA League has become a popular destination for many current and former basketball players from Westminster.  While the league started out as a way for former basketball players to continue their playing career in a less competitive way, the dynamics of the league have recently changed.

Last spring, Grant Kitchens, senior, put together the first team filled with mostly all Westminster students.  At the time, the players on the team took the league as a fun way to get together and mess around on the basketball court.

“When we first joined the league we wanted to play competitive basketball but our biggest goal was to have fun,” said Kitchens.

But as more Westminster teams have joined the league, a competition between grades has arisen.

“It is exciting to face other people from Westminster.  It makes the games much more meaningful and intense,” said Kitchens.

Last winter, the sophomore team upset the seniors in an overtime thriller to earn bragging rights coming into this new season.

“The final game was full of controversy but we all had fun playing each other.  We hope to revenge our loss this new season, said Kitchens.

As of now, there are 3 teams that are filled with almost solely Westminster students.  Two of the teams are made up of mostly sophomores, and one team consists mostly of seniors.

While the league, at first, was made up of only former basketball players, one of the sophomore teams recently recruited Aaron Cook, sophomore varsity player, and Jordan Hawkins, sophomore junior varsity player to join their team.

“I joined the league because I thought it would be fun to play with my friends that don’t play basketball for Westminster,” said Cook.

Overall, the YMCA league has provided many Westminster students a competitive, yet fun way to continue playing the game of basketball.