Last spring, much beloved referee James Thomas (known to many as just James) announced that the 2016 MGBL boys’ season would be his last. James, who was a fixture in the Ben Porat Yosef gym, made the decision to head west to spend more time with his family. After an intense search, Team MGBL has appointed Alan White to be the new official for the second/third grade girls’ and second-grade boys’ division. Alan comes to the league with a packed resume, as a true teacher of youth basketball.
Alan White’s passion for basketball spans back to his days at William H. Taft High School in the Bronx, where he played point guard. He graduated high school as a PSAL NYC All Star and moved on to Keuka College located in the Finger Lake Region of Upstate New York. At Keuka, he continued to develop his game and was chosen to be captain of the Keuka Warriors during his junior and senior years. When he was not playing or doing classwork, White would put on clinics for pre-teen and teenage students in a small town named Penn Yan. After college, he was asked to be assistant coach of the Keuka College Warriors Men’s Varsity Team by David Sweet, the head coach.
One of the commissioners of MGBL told The JLNJ, “James will be missed; he played a huge role in molding so many basketball players. We are confident that Alan will be able to seamlessly step right in. Additionally, the league will be putting Alan’s instructional experience to good use by adding a clinic to the schedule in these divisions. After some official practice time, we will be having a skills and drills session for the girls and boys 15 minutes prior to each game.”
There are still limited spots open for the 2016 MGBL girls’ league as well as sponsorship opportunities, but it is filling up fast. Register your daughter today at https://www.mgbl.org/SignUpPart1.php. MGBL is an IRS-recognized 501c3 charity. In addition to having your business or family name of the back of the team’s jerseys, additional exposure will be offered to sponsors because MGBL has a reserved space in each issue of the Jewish link (during the season) and the emphasis will be to get the sponsors’ names in print as often as possible (captions, results or standings). To sponsor a team go to https://www.mgbl.org/BecomeSponsorChoose.php or email [email protected]. Boys’ registration will begin shortly.
By JLNJ Staff
