Monday, August 22nd………After an action packed summer league in MA and another league in NH, Eastern Basketball held a unique event!  We invited the Champions of the MA league up to the ESC, to play in an Ultimate Championship and take on the winners of the NH based summer league.  Free hamburgers and hot dogs were awarded to all teams, a DJ played jams all night, and the players had some dance-offs.  Even the referees were caught breaking it down on the courts!!

Here is a list of the teams that played in the Ultimate Championships!

See below for some pictures of the day’s events……..

Amesbury HS Boys celebrate a fun time!!

DJ all set-up and doing this thing!

Salem Blue Devils dancing in the front yard!

And lastly, Chef Jason was cooking up all the yummy food!

Congratulations to all the teams that played in our play-offs at the Eastern Sports Center.  All teams played a full summer schedule, improved a lot and seemed to have  blast playing in the best indoor basketball facility in all of New Enlgand!  See below for a listings, complete with team pictures, of all our teams that took home the title and were adorned with CHAMPIONSHIP t-shirts, compliments of Eastern Basketball! 

5th/6th Grade Girls Champion: Salem Blue Devils, coached by Jeff Perry. 

HS Girls Champion: Pelham HS, coached by Rob Shepard.

5th Grade Boys Champion: NA Hot Shots, coached by George Kater

6th Grade Boys Champion: Red Rockets, coached by Brian Doyle

7th Grade Boys Champion: Immaculate Conception, coached by Buck Woo and Roger Dieker

8th Grade Boys Champions: NE Jump, coached by Brian and Bill Buresh

9th/10th Grade Boys Champion: Manchester Raiders, coached by Kevin Fraser

Varsity Boys Champion: Amesbury, coaches by Paul Gobeil

Congratulations to all the teams who took the title this Summer!!

Thank you to everyone (players, parents, coaches, grandparents, fans, etc) for being a part of our North Shore summer league.  We had a blast running it, and we hope you had a great time participating as well.  It was fun to watch all the players improve over the course of the season.  Thanks for all the hard work, commitment, and good sportsmanship.  Great job to everyone!

We hope to see you again next summer.

If anyone is interested in playing in fall league, we are enrolling teams now, shoot me an email: jen@120swish.com

Summer League Champions 2011:

BOYS TEAMS:

5th Grade Boys Division 1 Champions: VBG (Coach Marcos)

5th Grade Boys Division 2 Champions: Manchester-Essex (Coach Hersey)

6th Grade Boys Division 1 Champions: MA Evolution (Coach Bennett)

6th Grade Boys Division 2 Champions: VBG (Coach Marcos)

Need Picture

7th Grade Boys Division 1 Champions: MA Elite (Coach Polli)

7th Grade Boys Division 2 Champions: MA Elite (Coach Veguilla)

Picture of Wakefield coming soon.

8th Grade Boys Division 1 Co-Champions: Wakefield (Coach Delerie) and MA Elite (Coach Latimer)

8th Grade Boys Division 2 Champions: St. John’s Peabody (Coach Vitale)

9th Grade Boys Division 1 Champions: Bobcats (Coach Fama)

9th Grade Boys Division 2 Champions: MA Ballarz (Coach Babb)

JV Boys Champions: Gladiators (Coach Vargas)

Varsity Boys Champions:

GIRLS TEAMS:

6th Grade Girls Division 1 Champions: Wakefield Warriors (Coach Rossi)

Picture Coming Soon

6th Grade Girls Division 2 Champions: VBG (Coach Lee)

7th Grade Girls Division 1 Champions: Peabody Lady Tanners (Coach Gulla)

7th Grade Girls Division 2 Champions: VBG (Coach Lee)

8th Grade Girls Division 1 Champions: Beverly Panthers (Coach Grant)

8th Grade Girls Division 2 Champions: Bobcats (Coach Burfoot)

9th grade Girls Champions: MA Hoop Elite (Coach Gagnon)

JV Girls Champions: VBG (Coach AT)

Varsity Girls Champions: Masco (Coach Sabino)

The Eastern Basketball’s Summer League 2011 regular season has come to a close as of tonight, Aug 4, 2011.  The season started back in the end of June.  200 teams from all over the North Shore and Middlesex communities have competed all summer to form the biggest (and best) league in the area!

We had some great competition in our last night of games. Entering 8th grade girls teams The Eagles faced off against Wildcatz in a QUADRUPLE OVER TIME game!  Great job to both teams!

Playoffs will start on Monday, Aug 8, and finish by Thursday, Aug 18th. Games will be played at Gordon College, the brand new Beverly HS Field House, and in the Wakefield area.

Top teams from the North Shore will also be invited up to the Eastern Sports Center on Monday, Aug 22, for an “End of the Season BASH”, to face off against the champions of the Southern NH summer league and enjoy some BBQ as well.

Check for scores and standings on our league site, www.easternbasketball.net.

Good luck to all the teams out there in the playoffs!

Reese Woodbury Makes National News!

Click on the link above to watch this amazing video, filmed at this years AAU National Championship tournament in Orlando, FL.  Reese is a 5 year old phenom basketball player who has been dedicated to the drills taught at “Hoop School” since he could handle a ball.  Watch this awesome video and learn what The Nation’s skills and drills lessons can do for you.

Hoop school is a weekly skills and drills session offered in the Fall and Spring AAU basketball seasons by the Nation Founder, Michael “Woody” Woodbury.   This comes as a weekly part of the AAU seasons, offered when you play for a Nation team out of the Eastern Sports Center (Plaistow, NH) or The Basketball House (Saco, ME).

Come to an AAU tryout and find out for yourself! Info and Registration Here

Congratulations to the AAU Division 1

National Championship team!

MBNation competed for 2 weeks in the end of July to claim the National title.  They took the trophy home to Maine from the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida. This U18 boys team shocked the competition Monday 8/1/11 and scored a first ever National Championship.

The 40-team tournament included AAU squads from Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

“This is a historic victory,” MBNation head coach Mike “Woody” Woodbury said.  “The players on this team are very close,” he said. “They play for each other. There is no selfish play.”

Read More from the Original Article

Chris Braley helps Maine team win National Championship

Read Article Here

Congrats to all the players, their families,
and the entire Nation Program!

Mike “Woody” Woodbury, director of the MBNation Basketball Club, is excited to announce that MBNation will expand to New Hampshire. MBNation is one of New England’s largest, and most successful AAU basketball clubs. MBNation will be hosting the teams out of the Eastern Sports Center, a state of the art, 4 court basketball facility in Plaistow, New Hampshire. Upon expansion, MBNation Basketball will now be recognized as “The Nation Basketball.” The Nation plays in the Amateur Athletic Union, “AAU”, a nation-wide sports organization.

Woody is bringing 16 years of AAU experience to the Eastern Sports Center and saw the collaboration with the E.A.C as a great opportunity for New England basketball. He will focus on building the New Hampshire club as a mirror image to the current club in Maine, which has over 300 athletes involved. The features of The Nation: Each member gets free “Hoop School” – a comprehensive skills and drills clinic, a team to play on – with games just about every weekend, and the opportunity to travel to gain valuable experience and exposure for the athletes.

The Nation is a great opportunity for athletes of all ability levels. The Nation and ESC aim to promote amateur basketball in New England, to foster an environment of sportsmanship among players, coaches, parents and others involved in basketball, and to provide opportunities for amateur basketball players to engage in challenging competition and to help players in developing their physical and fundamental basketball skills.

To learn more about this topic, you can contact Mike Woodbury at thenationbasketball@yahoo.com or visit our website, www.thenationbasketball.org.

Under Randy’s leadership and direction Mass Evolution has become one of the premier AAU programs in New England. In addition to his continued leadership with Mass Evolution, Randy will take on the added role of Director of AAU for 120 Swish / Eastern Basketball. The combined strengths of Eastern Basketball and Mass Evolution under Randy’s leadership and direction will provide our parents and players more options, opportunities, and best in class facilities. Whether boy or girl, just starting to play or going for elite level – Eastern Basketball and Mass Evolution has a plan and program to provide you with skill development, challenging games and great coaching. This collaboration will provide a great platform to provide developmental, competitive and elite level play all under one managed and coordinated program. Our combined geographic footprint will now include Boston North, Metro West, Southern NH and North-Central Mass. Randy will join the board of directors of 120 Swish and assume full responsibility of our combined AAU program. The staff of 120 Swish will work with Randy in this effort by providing administrative and communication support. This alignment represents an great step forward for Eastern Basketball and Mass Evolution, while also being a perfect fit. Please be assured that Eastern Basketball and Mass Evolution will continue to do everything possible to merit the confidence you have shown in our two organizations. Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to reach out to us.