The Huntley Park District has allowed for numerous basketball teams to play for a fee every Sunday morning till late afternoon for quite some time now; however, the hype surrounding these basketball teams is quite new. Custom jerseys, designated practice times and dates, and even Instagram pages paralleling an NBA draft, introducing players and recruiters, have become more and more common amongst the teams of the 2022 rec-basketball season. One of these new teams is the Bricklayers.
“We really just have a fun time out there. It’s honestly just a great way to hangout and also get to play some basketball,” said head coach of the Bricklayers, Huntley High School junior Micheal Dabe.
Bricklayers’ player, Ryan Bakes, says that although none of his teammates currently play basketball as it is against the rules, their team is quite decent.
“Games get pretty intense if I’m being honest. We all try our hardest because of course we want to win. The teams we’re playing, they’re our friends’ teams, so of course there is always some added intensity there,” said Bakes.
While there seems to be some sort of playful grievance on the court, teams’ Instagram pages seem to also be a common place for playful grievances.
“Our team will come up with some memes to make about our upcoming game. It’s all just friendly content, all of the teams make stuff like that,” said Bakes. “I think it just adds to the fun of it all, when everyone can just joke around.”
Even fans of the rec teams have been getting excited about attending the Sunday morning matches.
“My friends and I will all wake up early to go watch the game. Honestly, it’s for entertainment because it’s so fun watching our friends play but they’re also pretty good, so we love to cheer them on,” said junior Alyssa Koop.
While the rec season is slowly coming to an end, fans, players, and even coaches had a great time participating and watching their favorite teams go head to head every Sunday morning.