BUCKHANNON – The Stockert Youth & Community Center will have one more basketball sign-up session slated for this Saturday, Nov. 6.

Practices for the upcoming season will start after Thanksgiving, which falls on Nov. 25 this year, and games will commence in January 2022, SYCC executive director Debora Brockleman announced this week.

“We’ve had basketball sign-ups October 20th and 27th, and this coming Saturday, we are going to be using the middle school gym this year,” Brockleman said at the SYCC board’s Nov. 1 meeting. “Of course, we will follow the CDC guidelines as well as the BOE GAAP guidelines when we use the gyms for games and practices.”

Times for the Nov. 6 sign-up date are as follows: 3 p.m. — grades kindergarten through third, which includes Buddy and Me; 4:30 p.m. — grades 4-5; and 6 p.m. — grades 6-8. Please bring your own basketball to this Skills Clinic and note that this will be the last day for SYCC Basketball sign-ups. If you cannot make it, please stop by SYCC before Nov. 19, 2021.

She said it appears the basketball program will be as popular as ever.

“Some parents are calling to say they’re waiting because their child is trying out for the school team, so they don’t want to sign up yet,” Brockleman said. “People are really excited; they missed it last year and I missed it last year, so I think we’ll be back to where we were.”

SYCC’s after-school program has been seeing about 60 kids a day and about 80 total children attending.

“The drill team is getting prepared for the upcoming parades, and they are practicing every Thursday,” Brockleman said. “We have about 10 tutoring students right now and we keep getting requests daily, so we’re working to get those students matched up with a tutor as soon as possible.”

SYCC is also still accepting applications for a new activity coordinator/administration person.

“This is the position that coordinates the after-school program,” Brockleman said. “You have to have experience – you just can’t be a random person; you have to have experience working with kids. We’re taking applications right now, but the job description is pretty detailed, so hopefully we can get someone good.”

Interested parties may request an application and complete job description at City Hall, 70 East Main Street, or by calling 304-472-1651.

“We also attended Trunk or Treat on Thursday night. It was the city’s Trunk or Treat, but we had it at the high school, and it was very well-attended. There was a lot of traffic,” Brockleman said. “It was over at 8 p.m. and I did not get home until 9:30 p.m., and there were still people still coming and coming, after waiting in that line for a long time.”