The mission statement of the Tiger Youth Basketball Organization (TYBO) says, “The Tiger Youth Basketball Organization is a nonprofit group dedicated to building exceptional youth basketball programs for athletes of all skill levels. Our programs provide top-notch coaching and instruction to assist our athletes in developing the character, discipline and drive of successful athletes. Our mission is made possible by combining the efforts and capacity of countless volunteers with those of the administration and athletic departments at Greenfield Middle School and McClain High School. Any and all proceeds from basketball tournaments and events will be given back to the athletes and programs in our community.”
This statement sets lofty goals in a community that has a history of highly successful boys and girls basketball programs including 2006-07 varsity boys team that finished the season as the number one team in Division II according to the Associated Press.
TYBO organizes a Developmental League knows as TyBoDL that is ran by McClain Lady Tigers head coach Jarrod Haines, assistant coach Audra Branham and assistant coach Travis Snyder; as well as members of the boys and girls varsity teams including Lady Tigers Jaelyn Pitzer, Emma Stegbauer, Liz Kegley and Bryn Karnes to name a few.
TyBoDL targets girls and boys in grades PreK-2 and focuses on introducing the game of basketball in a fun and exciting manner and includes instruction in dribbling, passing and shooting with an appropriately sized ball in each age group.
The student athlete volunteers run each of the five stations and have the opportunity to interact with and instruct each of the participants personally.
The poise and professionalism shown by the student athlete volunteers is an example of how TYBO has impacted the community and the development of Greenfield’s next wave of leaders on and off the court.
One example of this impact is Karnes who was a member of TYBO starting in the third grade and now represents Edward Lee McClain High School as a starter on the varsity girls basketball team and has volunteered the last two years at TyBoDL.
It’s just so good to see so many kids out here excited about basketball,” Karnes told The Times-Gazette. “It’s something that I have loved since I was little and to see everyone else just as excited about it as I was is amazing.”
Karnes first experience with TYBO came in the third grade when she participated in the well-known rec league and helped shape her journey as a player.
“We didn’t have the developmental league but, I started in the third grade,” said Karnes. “We did rec league in the gym with both courts going and we just had fun at it.”
“My older siblings played basketball so that is what started my passion,” Karnes said. “It kind of took off when I was in little league and I go to compete finally and it just grew from there.”
Karnes was passion was obvious when she talked about being able to teach younger kids the game of basketball and affect the next wave of basketball players in the community.
“It’s just so inspiring to see what our next level of competitors are going to be here at McClain,” Karnes said. “We have always come from a long line of basketball, that’s out thing here at McClain and its so exciting to see everyone else ready to do it too.”
According to Karnes the entire team was asked to volunteer in the 2017 TyBoDL and they grew so fond of the environment and being able to teach the younger children the requirement was no longer needed.
“At first he (Haines) asked the whole team to do it,” said Karnes. “Then it just became a thing that we didn’t have to do it was just something we wanted to do. We enjoy coming out and helping them, teach them about basketball and have a little fun doing it.”
Ryan Applegate is the sports editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
