Two St. Gabriel boys are
2003 YSL.com ball kids

Two fifth graders from St. Gabriel Catholic School are this year's Young Saint Louis.com ball kids. They will work two games at the 2003 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament.

Eleven-year-olds Tony Mazzuca and Jim Malle will be on the floor for two games in the MVC championship meet at the Savvis Center March 7-10.

For the second year, MVC officials have allotted two ball kid slots to YSL.com. That allows us to offer our readers the opportunity to apply.

Tony and Jim will be right under the baskets during two weekend tournament games. They are there to retrieve balls and keeping the floor dry so the players won't slip and hurt themselves.

Tony and Jim are teammates in both basketball and baseball.

Tony is the point guard and Jim the shooting guard for the 5th grade basketball team at St. Gabriel. Also, the two play next to each other on a summer baseball team. Tony is the shortstop and Jim plays second base.

Both also would like to play sports in college and afterwards. However, Tony wants to be a pro baseball player while Jim is leaning toward basketball. But, Jim added, "If I'm not tall enough for pro basketball, I'd like to be a sports announcer."

The two said they were looking forward to being close to the action in the MVC tournament. (To read about the experiences of the 2002 YSL.com ball kids, click here.)

Tony said he doesn't know too much about the MVC teams because none of the schools are in St. Louis. However, he has been to the Savvis Center, where he watched Saint Louis University win a basketball game.

Jim said he's seen one of the MVC teams, Creighton, on TV. Creighton, from Omaha, is the defending champion and a favorite in this year's MVC tournament. Creighton has been ranked in the Top 25 of men's college teams for most of this season.

Other area teams in the MVC are Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and Southwest Missouri State University of Springfield. Both play the SLU Billikens in non-conference games during the season.

As a dark-horse last year, Creighton had a good run NCAA Men's Final Four tournament. The 2002 YSL.com ball kids got to work one of Creighton's preliminary round games.

Tony said his favorite pro basketball player is Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets. Asked why he likes him, Tony said, "He's short and he plays point guard."

Jim said his favorite pro players are Mike Bibby of the Sacramento Kings and Tracy McGrady of the Orlando Magic.

As ball kids, Tony and Jim will receive MVC T-shirts to wear as their uniform during the games. They also get to talk with players, coaches and referees before and after the games.

They also have passes to the media room at the tournament where they get free refreshments. Of course, they get free admission to their games.

YSL.com will have follow-up interviews with Tony and Jim for the April edition of the website.