3RD ANNUAL EST MIDDLE SCHOOL COMBINE: Full Info W/ Registration Links

3RD ANNUAL EST MIDDLE SCHOOL COMBINE

Site: Riverfront Sports Complex (AKA Backcourt Hoops); Scranton, PA

Date: Friday, May 21, 2021

Time: 6:30-9:00 PM

Cost: $75

For: Classes of 2025-26 (current 7th/8th graders)

Registration Form (completed & submitted online): https://jeffmlinar.wufoo.com/forms/mboq59l1ha2jl9/

PayPal payment link ($78 if PayPal due to service charge): https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=APUWRTHCWEVC8

Last year may have pretty much been a wash, but 2021 is a different story... back at it!

With 2020 being what it was, there unfortunately wasn't an opportunity to put on an increasingly popular EST middle school event. It was almost a complete wipeout until, thanks to the crew at Riverfront Sports Complex, the Fall Showcase was a go in November. With their continued cooperation, EST will be back in Scranton numerous times in 2021, starting with the return of the MS Combine.

The 3rd Annual EST Middle School Combine will take place on the evening of Friday, May 21 at Riverfront, just off the highway entering Scranton, PA. The one-session event, which will only include a maximum of 60 participants, will take place from 6:30-9:00 PM, and it's open to girls in the 2025-26 classes (current 7th/8th graders).

The session includes a heavy dose of structured & competitive 3v3/5v5 play. All players will also go through an individual skill session of skills/drills & individual breakdowns. The skill work session, like the previous event in Scranton (the EST Fall Showcase), will be coordinated by Mark Williams & the TEAM FOOTPRINTZ crew, a very highly regarded basketball training based organization out of NYC. The format has been constructed in the effort to not only allow players to show their ability in a variety of outlets, but also to foster an environment of learning & growing through both competition and training. With the combination of these pieces, it provides an opportunity to not just compete with & against other high-level players among this similar age group, but also to get better by receiving the maximum amount of reps. Along with that, it provides the opportunity to be tested at a young age in a combine/showcase style environment among many new faces, an experience that has already proven to come in handy in future years!

In usual EST fashion, all 3v3/5v5 game play will be recorded to provide the greatest opportunity to be evaluated at this early stage. Scouting services & basketball-specific media outlets, many of which that pay attention to high-level middle schoolers, will be invited to attend. EST events have always been geared toward providing the most positive & beneficial experience for participants on all fronts, and this will be no different.

The usual COVID restrictions will be in place for this event. That includes screening upon entry, mask-wearing for all spectators & participants (Lackawanna County in PA, like New York, has a mask mandate for indoor close-contact competition), sterilizing basketballs, utilizing separate entry/exit doors, and structuring the event to limit unnecessary back & forth foot traffic.

Many of the extended region's current standouts in the 2022-24 classes put in work at EST middle school events in years past. The initial MS Combine, which had players now in the 2022 class, has seen players make early commitments to Marist & Niagara, and several others that participated in the event currently hold D1 offers. EST events as a whole have brought an increasing amount of the region's talent through the doors, with the collegiate alumni list since the inaugural class of 2016 now approaching 300.

The last MS Combine, held in May 2019, sold out weeks in advance. I expect this to do the same! There has been strong representation from all corners of New York in recent EST events with six states in total being represented. I also anticipate a growing representation from Pennsylvania given the event's location & increased attention given to local players. A registered player list is below, and I attempt to update it daily. If there are any questions, feel free to contact me directly. Hope to see you in Scranton on May 21!

REGISTERED PLAYER LIST (updated daily)

Kayleigh Ahern (5'6", 2025)

Ava Amorese (5'7", 2025)

Kayla Beaudoin (5'8", 2025)

Sophia Bologna (5'4", 2025)

Calleigh Boord (5'2", 2025)

Morgan Brewer (5'7", 2025)

Olivia Chairmonte (5'9", 2025)

Sophia Chemotti (5'3", 2025)

Maggie Coleman (5'6", 2025)

Anne Dodge (5'5", 2025)

Brenna Ducatte (5'7", 2025)

Taylor Fall (5'4", 2025)

Bronnie Foulke (5'6", 2025)

Maria Fumerelle (5'8", 2025)

Sarah Gaetano (5'3", 2025)

Elizabeth Gaughan (5'6", 2025)

Klarissa Goode (5'6", 2025)

Mady Hamilton (5'4", 2025)

Kyla Hayes (6'0", 2025)

Mallory Heise (5'7", 2025)

Amaia Jackson (5'8", 2025)

Emma Kamas (5'2", 2025)

Emilie Kent (5'10", 2025)

Hannah Lauenstein (5'2", 2025)

Lila Lovgren (5'7", 2025)

Ava Mamone (5'10", 2025)

Payton Morrison (5'9", 2025)

Makayla Mueller (5'9", 2025)

Hazell Nickerson (5'11", 2025)

Kira Ostovar (5'7", 2025)

Halee Pasinella (5'4", 2025)

Layla Pellerin (5'3", 2025)

Aleah Petre (5'7", 2025)

Emma Phelan (5'5", 2025)

Abigail Reynolds (5'8", 2025)

Kaitlyn Robbins (5'10", 2025)

Ava Sandroni (5'8", 2025)

Ava Scaturro (5'4", 2025)

Emily Thornton (5'9", 2025)

Mia Tyler (5'7", 2025)

Arianna Verardi (5'7", 2025)

Grace Villnave (5'8", 2025)

Kelsey vonWedel (5'8", 2025)

Ashaya Wallace (5'6", 2025)

Addyson Wheeler (5'7", 2025)

Ella Wilson (5'11", 2025)

Hannah Wist (5'5", 2025)

Marianna Alarcon (5'7", 2026)

Harly Birdsall (5'8")

Ava Carpenter (5'2", 2026)

Julia Clarke (5'4", 2026)

Makayla Evans (5'4", 2026)

Kavya Gonuguntla (5'11", 2026)

Hailey Guerin (5'0", 2026)

McKenna Hoyt (5'10", 2026)

Michaela Katz (5'2", 2026)

Cara Macaluso (5'3", 2026)

Ava Noel (5'2", 2026)

Imani Porter (5'8", 2026)

Graceanne Sleeth (5'3", 2026)

Liana Williams (5'2", 2026)

A Weekend in the 518: Zero Gravity 'Spring Fling' Notes & Standouts

It was a long drought, but AAU basketball events have finally returned 'back to the crib' in upstate NY & with that, 2021 already feels like more of a return to 2019 times than a rerun of 2020. Zero Gravity, a company that has made themselves synonymous with event coordination in Northeast club basketball, did the honors in the 518 as Hunter Stratton & crew brought back the ZG Spring Fling to various Albany area facilities. There were more teams than this old accounting major cares to look back and count between boys & girls, but I tried to pay particular attention to the 38 teams spanning 7th grade to varsity divisions on the girls end. Over the course of the weekend, I was able to see approximately 30 of them in action while catching a good number of those teams, especially the ones that played deep into Sunday, on multiple occasions.

Albany area ZG events have often been the place where I find who's 'next up' in the 518 when they're in 7th/8th grade, before they're playing at the varsity level & often before they build any profile on the AAU circuit. For proof of that, look no further than standout area talent like Sophie & Lilly Phillips, who I got a good look at four years ago at a ZG event around this time of year - well before the state championships & D1 attention. With that in mind, you can probably see why I enjoyed the opportunity to focus on this event. This one also brought a good deal of that Section 2 up & coming talent, which is reflected in the upcoming list. A few players that caught my eye with their weekend performances while bouncing from facility to facility, in alphabetical order:

Mercy commit Abby Racine (listed deeper in the article), one of Section 7's premier players the last few years, had a strong showing Saturday night.

The Winter Sprint: Thoughts From A Season Worth The Wait

Well, that was fun. Unexpected, but fun.

It's the beginning of April. Ten weeks ago, any thought of a scholastic basketball season in New York seemed like not much more than a pipe dream. Fast forward to now, and we made it through some sort of a season. Not everyone had an opportunity to play - various schools & a couple leagues shut it down, and all of NYC was left in the cold - but the overwhelming majority in upstate NY were at least able to get a few games in.

It's not completely over yet, at least at the time I'm typing this. Herkimer County, the last ones seated in upstate NY (first day of practice was March 1), have stretched their season through the first full week of April. However, everyone else is on to AAU/spring/fall II/things that aren't winter sports, and unless I hit one or two more Mohawk Valley games, I'm also onto club season. This season, albeit short, was well worth the wait for many reasons. From the breakout individual performances to youngsters getting a few weeks of valuable experience to a star-studded senior class riding out one more time, every night felt like it meant something in a season that wasn't guaranteed.

With the cooperation of many athletic administrators & coaches, I was able to stay pretty active in February & March and get to a decent amount of games. The 54 games I've been able to catch in person (46 in NY, 8 in PA) is a far cry from the usual 200-250 game winter haul that I'm used to - a shorter season and lack of neutral site games or events with several games at a single facility will chop that number down in a hurry. It was more than enough to see a lot, cover a lot, and learn a lot, though. Some thoughts on the winter sports sprint of 2021:

My first game of the winter - January 21 at Wyoming Valley West outside of Wilkes-Barre, PA. In the days following, NY allowed the go-ahead for winter sports as well.