By TIM SMITH
CHEROKEE YOUTH TRAVEL LEAGUE
Cherokee Youth Travel League Mite Boys (Photos courtesy of Tim Smith)
Cherokee Youth Travel League Basketball teams finished the regular season with the best organizational record at 57-22 overall, and they carried that into the tournament as three teams won their division including the Peewee Girls, Mite Girls and Mite Boys. Each of those three teams finished their seasons undefeated at 14-0.
Cherokee Youth Travel League Mite Girls
Cherokee was the only organization to have any teams finish the season undefeated and no team finished lower than third place in their division. Four teams won the regular season division title including: Peewee Girls (coached by Tommy Teesateskie and Vanessa Lopez), Peewee Boys (coached by Duck Lossiah and Ernie Lossiah), Mite Girls (coached by Ben Stamper and Rock Burgess) and the Mite Boys (coached by Blaine Wolfe and Christina Panther). Each of these teams went into the season-ending tournament as #1 seeds. The tournament, due to weather issues this year, lasted a marathon-like 16 days.
Cherokee Youth Travel League Pee Wee Girls
Cherokee Travel League officials related, “The real accomplishment for our organization was we were also the only organization not to have any players, coaches, parents, or fans ejected from any games or fined for any reason. This is what we are most proud of…that we not only have the most loyal and supportive fans, but also the classiest.”
Tim Smith, Cherokee Youth Travel League director, commented, “I would like to thank each player and parent/guardian who participated this year. If it weren’t for you, this organization would be nothing.”
