Youth Sports

Tucson Summer Pro League for Kids ends with well-attended championships, 3-point contest

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Most of the seats were taken in the Gregory School gym, the case even Saturday when the air conditioning was out, with parents and families cheering on the young participants in another well-organized event by Corey Williams and his crew.

The Tucson Summer Pro League (TSPL) for Kids completed its activities from the last two months on Sunday with a 3-point shooting contest and championships for the boys 10-11 and 12-13 and girls 10-13.

Each competition was well-contested with players obviously having fun and the spectators engaged.

Williams, the former Arizona basketball player who is a college basketball analyst on TV, mentioned that he would like the event that started in 2004 to grow more.

He talked on Sunday about the possibility of working with the Boys and Girls Club to offer shuttle service from the southside and westside in an effort to have more players participate. The travel distance to north-central Tucson (north of Craycroft and Glenn, where Gregory School is located) for some parents in those areas is too far.

The event began in 2004 with college-age players participating, including some from Arizona, hence the original name Tucson Summer Pro League. Williams added youth participants in 2013. The inclusion of college-age players ended in 2018. Williams also said he is looking at a potential return of college-age players.

The premise of his operation is to provide an avenue for parents who are unable to afford fees for an AAU travel ball team for their children in the summer. The cost for the children in the TSPL is mostly covered by sponsors. Parents have to pay only $25 for their child to participate in the eight-week event and the fee covers a jersey the players can keep.

“I love to impact young people,” Williams said in a 2020 interview. “People gave me shortcuts (when he was a child growing up in Batavia, Ill.). People gave me the cheat-code. People said, ‘Hey do this, not this’ and it really saved me a lot of the time.

“It allowed me to be efficient. It allowed me to reach a lot of my goals in life. I love doing that for young people. That’s why I do the kids league … and I do camps and stuff because I’m a basketball junkie like everybody, that’s how I get my fix, get in the gym, work with kids and teach them.”

Here are the results from Sunday’s competition:

BOYS 10-11 3-POINT SHOOTING CONTEST

WINNER: COLLIN CULHANE (GREGORY SCHOOL)

BOYS 12-13 3-POINT SHOOTING CONTEST

WINNER: JOAQUIN SOSA (McCORKLE)

GIRLS 10-13 3-POINT SHOOTING CONTEST

WINNER: ZOEY PABLO (BABOQUIVARI MIDDLE SCHOOL)

BOYS 10-11 CHAMPIONSHIP

CREST INSURANCE 33, WINDOW DEPOT 30

Crest Insurance: Tiago Leal 14 points, Kylin White 7, Vinny Castillo 4, Kelvin Eafon Jr. 4, Augie Axen 2, Ernesto Ortega 2. Coach: Kelvin Eafon.

Window Depot: Bastian Guthrie 7, Collin Culhane 6, Dillon Yockey 6, Russ Valerani Knoblich 5, Christian Goble 4, Julius Valerani Knoblich 2. Coach: Raja Moreno-Ross.

GIRLS 10-13 CHAMPIONSHIP

MOORE LAW 31, PICTURE ROCKS HEATING, COOLING & PLUMBING 17

Moore Law: Lily Reed 16 points, Zoey Pablo 11, Mia Sandifer 4. Coach: Raja Moreno-Ross.

Picture Rocks: Jasmin Jordyn Dixon 5, Kenzie Louis Beyale 5, Lilu Cioran 4, Jaliyah Blanson 2, Nia Kastl 1. Coach: Kelvin Eafon.

BOYS 12-13 CHAMPIONSHIP

CASINO DEL SOL 59, REVOLVE SOLUTIONS 55

Casino Del Sol: Joaquin Sosa 26 points, Evan Elaiho 15, Aiden Humbert 6, Darian Vasquez 4, Sergius Sakali 4, Ivan McCabe Jaime 2, Jordan Donichy 2. Coach: Corey Williams.

Revolve Solutions: Lucas Ayala 19, Rico Aguilar-Rashad 14, Cameron Woods 10, Amari Guillory 6, Auggie Rodriguez 3, Lucas Runyon 3. Coach: Kelvin Eafon.

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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

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