VA Assault to hold All-Day Bump

Ron Bailey, Publisher

Need run for your team? Come on down.

June 9, 2011 - With budgets for grassroots teams being impacted by fiscal concerns as is everything else in society, boys travel teams have not been as mobile as before. Whether people realize it or not, it costs to play in tournaments, both locally and elsewhere.

To that end, Jerry McFarland of VA Assault and Donnell Boyce have come up with a way to get good work in, at a minimal cost to teams; McFarland and Boyce have set the dates of June 11th - 12th and July 2nd - 3rd aside for All-Day Bump, a team-based event scheduled for 9am - 9pm, those days. Teams will be afforded the opportunity to play under the whistle, at Freedom High School (15201 Neabsco Road, Woodbridge, VA 22191.

Jerry McFarland in action.

Cost is $25 registration fee for teams, and $50 per game for referee fees. All boys squads in the 15u, 16u and 17u age classifications are welcome. Sign up, times and anything else can be arranged by contacting McFarland (vaassaultbasketball@yahoo.com, 202.905.8295) or Boyce (dboyce370@gmail.com, 571.315.9322).

When asked what was the driving idea behind All-Day Bump, McFarland shared "it's basically a way to play locally at a time when most AAU budgets start to breakdown". Later, he added"It's a great opportunity for teams to play and only have to pay for the refs. It's an economic way to get some bump".

He went on to note how he plans on utilizing All-Day Bump: "My program, we traditionally play a lot more than we practice together, because my kids from from Tidewater, Richmond and Northern Virginia. So I need these games to teach and use as my practice for the July swing".

It's not hard to imagine others doing similarly, or even just participating to get some good run. Whatever the motivation, All-Day Bump provides a reason to participate.