Shawn Mitchell, an Amagansett School kindergarten teacher and mother of four who four years ago took over a youth basketball league with yearslong Sag Harbor roots, now has a tiger by the tail, overseeing, as she does, the East End Basketball Organization, whose third through sixth graders practice and play in seven gyms out here from January to early March.
A native of Sag Harbor, Mitchell, whose basketball coaches at Pierson High School were Gary Hull and Katie Browngardt, estimated the other day that about 100 coaches and 600 boys and girls on about 40 teams — 300 or so kids in the Harbor and about the same number outside of it — are participating under the E.E.B.O. banner this winter. Clinics are given to the kindergarten through second graders.
As for the coaches, “they make a huge contribution. We simply would not exist if we didn’t have parents take time out of their busy lives to run practices and travel to games.”
As for herself, she said she never considered herself a great basketball player, “but I loved the camaraderie on the court when a play clicked, and I loved learning from my teammates.” It was this love of the game, on and off the court, that fueled her tireless drive, she said, to make sure all kids out here could learn and love the sport as she did.
“For decades this used to be a Sag Harbor Youth Group thing, an extension of what most people refer to as Biddy League. When H.Y.A.L., an UpIsland youth league, dissolved, John Cottrell and other devoted East End parents formed the East End Basketball Organization so that kids from Montauk to Riverhead could keep playing.”
When Cottrell offered her the baton, she was hesitant at first, what with teaching at Amagansett and teaching Sunday school. “At first, I was, ‘I don’t know. . . .’ But then I knew that programs like this don’t exist if there’s not a parent who takes them over. All my kids have played. My youngest, who’s in fifth grade, is the last one to be in the league. Now I get to watch my nieces and nephews grow up in the program, and it’s a great way to connect with the children of all the people I’ve been connected to in growing up in Sag Harbor. We need to hold tight to that connection,” Mitchell said, “because it’s getting harder and harder for local families to remain here.”
Her husband, Dan, and her children, she added, “have been very supportive, and hop in whenever I need them to.”
“The numbers almost double every year,” she continued. “I hope we never get to the point where we’re tapped out. What we really need is a facility of our own, with multiple courts, so that that program will have room to grow and provide opportunities for year-round play for all ages, including those who don’t make the jayvee/varsity cut.”
Another dream of hers is to have a recreational league for the older kids who don’t make their schools’ junior varsity or varsity teams.
When questioned about all the work she puts in securing gym space, scheduling games, making sure there are always enough coaches on hand, et cetera, Mitchell said, “It keeps me busy, but it’s a good kind of busy. The school districts have been great, letting us use their gyms and providing security guards. On Saturdays and Sundays, in Sag Harbor’s middle school, the elementary school, and the Learning Center [formerly the Stella Maris Catholic school], we’ll have eight to 10 games, from 9 to 4.”
Moreover, whenever the kids play, their parents and grandparents and other family members turn out to cheer them on. Mitchell said she loves watching batch after batch of spectators file in and out of the gyms on game days. “It’s a great, fun energy, and I like the idea that we’re bringing the community together, enabling parents who might not otherwise meet to know one another. As far as the kids go, it’s a great opportunity for them to get off the screen at a time of year when there’s not much to do.”
As for the games, scores are kept, she said, but not emphasized. There are no league champions, no trophies are given out at the end of the season. “Yes, we want to encourage competition,” she said, “but for this age group it’s about working on the fundamentals, improving, learning how to be a good teammate, a good sport, learning how to grow as a player. . . . It’s harder to teach adults those things,” she said with a laugh.
There are 11 on the E.E.B.O. board of directors — Mitchell, Kevin O’Connell, Mark Poitras, Brian Locascio, Eddie Perodin, Austin Drill, Greg Darvin, Sarah Hansen, Dan Popadick, Peter Persico, and Ashley Himmel. All of them are volunteers and coach, she said, and help in obtaining financial support from businesses here. Most of the dozen or so referees who officiate at the games are certified, though Mitchell said, “we have plenty of uncertified ones too who help out — parents, varsity players, local phys ed teachers, even former board members.”
“We want to recruit and keep our referees. It’s nice that they get to know the kids. Sometimes when they blow the whistle it’s not because of a foul, but because they want to explain something. This is a development league, it’s very instructional.”
Asked if she might jump in too, the interviewee said, with a smile, “I probably could, but I don’t know if anybody wants to see me running up and down the court.”
