Henry Erlandson ’16 & William Borders ’16
THE ROUNDUP

Students of all grades are using YMCA basketball to play with their friends and find an outlet from school.

The YMCA is a organization that offers kids and teenagers the opportunity to play in a youth basketball league with friends without having to tryout, according to valleyymca.org.

“It’s a good way to stay active and play sports, I’m a pretty competitive person so this is fun to compete with these kids,” said Zachary San Roman ’15.

San Roman is a point guard for his YMCA team that has nine other Brophy students who practice once a week at the North Phoenix Baptist Church Family Life Center.

“Our team unfortunately just lost in the playoffs,” San Roman said. “It was a tough one but we competed together and had a fun time.”

Brandon Theodorou ’17 is Splaying in his first season in the Scottsdale YMCA league with fellow sophomores Tommy McGrath ’17, Nick Buccino ’17, Amit Syal ’17 and Holden Gordon ’17.

“I like playing basketball and it sounded fun and a good way to hang out with friends,” Theodorou said.

Theodorou is the center for his team and said he enjoys playing with other Brophy students in the YMCA league because they can play relaxed.

Syal and Buccino initially put the team together at the beginning of the season because they said they wanted to just play basketball for fun outside of school with friends.

“It’s beneficial to get out and be with friends and play basketball, it’s a good experience,” said Nick Ryan ’17, who plays on a team with Sanroman.

Ryan recently finished the playoffs in the Christown league after his team ended the season with two wins and four losses.

“You get to interact with other people and I have a few kids on my team that don’t go to Brophy, so it’s good to interact with new people,” Ryan said.