Gunnison Elite basketball teams win big

Left to Right: Coach Stephen Stewart, Alex Engel, Sienna Gomez, Maria Sabas, Eden Williams, Greisy Martinez, Meredith Diamond, Yaslin Hernandez, Ava Stewart, Kylee McDougal and Coach Anda Kuzmina.

Left to Right: Coach Kevin Mickelson, Cooper Mickelson, Kaiden Blair, Joan Martinez, Hoyt Johnson, Jake Stone, Parker Vick, Cian Odubhaigh, Grant Stewart, Jorge Perez and Coach Stephen Stewart.

Walking away as the champs twice in your first tournament appearance isn’t something to be expected. But that’s exactly what the Gunnison Elite basketball team pulled off, May 21-22, at the Rain Basketball Tournament, held in Cherry Creek, Colorado.

“We took a group of young people, seventh grade boys and ninth and tenth grade girls, and we just asked, ‘Do you want to play basketball year-round?’” said Stephen Stewart, the director of the Gunnison Elite program, an American Athletic Union (AAU) affiliated basketball team. “The response? We got a group of nine boys and 10 girls to respond yes!”

The AAU is a national umbrella organization that, besides organizing tournaments, offers very low-cost injury insurance — $16 per year — for its participants, who become nationally registered AAU members.

Stewart coaches the girls’ team while Kevin Mickelson handles the boys’ coaching duties. The teams will stay together and practice all year long. But, why another basketball program when local public schools offer sporting opportunities?

“From a parent’s perspective, when I saw my seventh-grader start playing in the school program, I could see he really loved playing,” said parent Margo Patton-Blair. “The Gunnison Elite program gave him the opportunity to keep going past the school season and just do it year round. With this program he’ll be able to grow and develop all summer long, and have something positive to do.”

And the teams positively couldn’t have done better: Two tournaments, two championships, not even close. The boys won 29-13 over the Denver Rain and the girls defeated Colorado Lady Lightning 33-15.

“The teams we played against in Denver were teams that literally scouted different schools for the best talent,” Stewart said. “We put our teams together from our classes, seventh-grade boys, ninth and tenth grade girls, and we’re going to keep them together, let them grow together.”

(Paul Wayne Foreman can be contacted a paul@gunnisontimes.com.)