Two
boys and two girls from local AAU youth basketball teams
will serve as ball kids for the 2008 Missouri Valley Conference
men's and women's basketball tournaments this month.
Young Saint Louis.com has cooperated with the local
kid's AAU basketball organization and the MVC to give the
kids a chance to help referees and tournament officials.
They will be stationed under the baskets right on the playing
floor.
Mason
Brobeck |
Twelve-year-old Mason Brobeck and 11-year-old Sam Rudnick
will work the Saturday afternoon session, March 8, at the
Scottrade Center in downtown St. Louis. The MVC men's tournament
runs from March 6-9.
Fourteen-year-old Rachel Brobeck and 11-year-old Natalie
Chrisco will work the Saturday afternoon session, March
15, at the St. Charles Arena. The women's tournament runs
from March 13-16.
Sam
Rudnick |
For the first time, the St. Louis area is the location
for both the men's and women's basketball tournaments. Last
year's men's meet set attendence records.
YSL.com has sponsored ballboys before for the men's
tournament. In fact, two years ago, the YSL.com ballkids
worked games involving two MVC teams that ended up in that
year's NCAA national tournament.
(If you'd like more information about the two conference
tournaments, you can visit either www.mvc-sports.com
or www.archmadness.com.
Ticket information also is available on the websites.)
Rachel
Brobeck |
The MVC is one of the mid-major college conferences that
have had a major impact on recent NCAA's Final Four national
tournaments.
Natalie Chrisco is a 5th grader at Our Savior Lutheran
School in Fenton. She plays for her school basketball team
and is on Team Sting, a select AAU team.
She said, "I'm looking forward to the MVC tournament. I'll
be able to see how good I have to be to play basketball
in college.
Natalie
Chrisco |
"I'd like to play for the Lady Vols at the University
of Tennessee."
Under Coach Pat Summitt, Tennessee is a top-ranked women's
team in the country. Their best player is 6'5" forward Candace
Parker, who is one of the first college woman players to
have dunked the ball in a game.
Natalie said she isn't likely to be able to dunk, even
when she gets her full height. "I'm 5'6" now and the doctor
said I'll probably top out at 5'9"," she said.
She said she got interested in the Lady Volunteers because
she attended a basketball camp there. Coach Summitt was
the instructor and Candace Parker was one of the assistants.
Rachel Brobeck is an 8th grader at Sacred Heart Catholic
School in Valley Park. She also plays for her school team
and is a member of Team Fever in the AAU select team program.
She started playing basketball when she was in 3rd grade
and has been on a select team for three years.
Rachel said she likes to watch WNBA pro basketball and
her select team takes its name from one of the pro teams,
the Indianapolis Fever.
She said one of her immediate basketball goals is to "make
the freshman team when I get to high school." Eventually,
she'd like to play basketball at the University of Missouri.
"I want to go to college close to home," she said.
Mason Brobeck and Sam Rudnick both started playing basketball
when they were in first grade. And, they're still together
as members of the Vetta Mavericks select AAU team.
Sam is a 4'11" point guard while Mason is a 4'10" second
guard.
The boys live in different cities and go to different schools
but met while attending the same church. Mason lives in
High Ridge and is a 6th grader at Sacred Heart in Valley
Park. Sam lives in Des Peres and goes to Parkway South Middle
School.
Of the ball kids, Sam was the most familiar with the Missouri
Valley Conference. He knew that Drake from Des Moines was
this year's conference champion. The MVC has its central
office here but the closest member school is Southern Illinois
University-Carbondale.
Mason said his favorite team is the Memphis Grizzlies of
the NBA. Both he and Sam had attended a Grizzlies game,
sitting about 10 rows up from the playing floor.
But, all four of the YSL.com ball kids said this
will be their first time to be actually on the floor while
the games were going on.
