Basketball season has come to an end for most Maine high school teams who have played their final tournament game at the Augusta Civic Center. The season-long goal, of course, is to qualify for tourney play in hopes of winning the gold ball and state title.

To say that most Midcoast towns have strong basketball fan support is putting it mildly. The weekly high school games are the highlight of the social season from November until February. We used to assume that most of those in attendance were there to watch someone special, a son or daughter, grandchild, niece or nephew, but we soon learned that’s not true. These young players have devoted fans from the community at large. You can walk into the gym at any home game and count on certain individuals to be there, no matter what the weather. In fact, some of them faithfully follow the team to away games – far away.

Our own town’s love affair with the game of basketball seems to be strengthening every year. Of course it hinges to some degree on a team’s success and the talent of the individual players. Girls’ teams have had to fight for recognition over the years and we still feel it’s unfortunate that the girls’ varsity team doesn’t share the evening program with the boys, although we guess there are arguments on the issue both pro and con. It seems too bad that true basketball enthusiasts sometimes have to choose between the girls’ game and boys’ game when they fall on the same night. What would make sense to us, however, and to a whole lot of other folks, is for the varsity girls and boys to play together when the opponent is an hour or more away. It would cut down on our travel time as well as our opponent’s and would certainly save on gas.

Home basketball games usually produce near capacity crowds. That’s true in many Maine schools. They’re truly community events, drawing everyone from the very young to the very old and it’s not only varsity games which attract fans. Elementary school teams have a strong following as do teams in the YMCA league. It’s these strong youth programs which are responsible for elementary and high school successes. They’ve provided young athletes with a head start which makes all the difference in the world.

With the high school basketball season coming to an end, there will be a void in the social calendar for lots of local folks. However, for many of the athletes, they’ll continue their training at specialized summer camps or by joining one of the many AAU teams around the state, where they’ll continue to hone their skills until next season. Just like in so many athletic endeavors, to stay on top of their game requires year-round training. We look forward to seeing our talented young athletes on the basketball courts come November.