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Franklin Parks and Recreation is back once again for the 2023 season of the annual Winter Youth Basketball League. This year, the city has decided to partner with the Camp25 foundation in order to increase participation in the league. 

A Parks and Rec news release noted that the league has three age divisions against this season.

The Rookie division consists of 4 to 7 year olds, the Junior division consists of the 8 to 11 year olds, and the Senior division consists of 12 to 14 year olds. 

This year Franklin City Public Schools has allowed Parks and Rec to utilize the gymnasium at J.P. King Jr. Middle School for practices and games. The first game day of the season occurred Sunday, Jan. 15.

The season kicked off with the five Junior division teams taking the court for the first three games. Team Deb’s Hair Studio (0-1) and Team Buddy (2-0) battled it out in game one. Team Buddy would go on to rout Team Deb’s Hair Studio by a score of 29-3. 

The second game of the day was a close one between Team Coach P LLC (1-0) and Team FDPR (0-1). Team Coach P LLC would squeak by with the win by a score of 13-12. 

The final Junior division game between Team Camp25 (0-1) and Team Buddy (2-0) resulted in a final score of 27-3 in favor of Team Buddy, which never lost steam from its big Game 1 victory. 

The fourth and fifth games of the day were played by the Senior division. Game 4 was an overtime thriller between the Lakers (0-1) and the Warriors (1-1). The Warriors would hang on to win by a score of 30-25. The Warriors would return for Game 5 against the Celtics (1-0). However, the Warriors were not able to hang onto that momentum, as they would drop their first game of the season by a score of 26-22. 

The final two games of the day were played by the Rookie division. The Red Wings (0-1) faced off with the Raptors (1-0) in an exciting first game for the rookies. The Raptors took the win by a score of 18-16. 

The seventh and final game of the evening was played between Rookie teams the Blue Devils (1-0) and the Dragons (0-1). The Blue Devils brought home the victory by a score of 8-2.

“We would like to give a huge ‘thank you’ to Camp25 and the Franklin City Public Schools for working with us to make this league happen for our youth,” stated Andrew Lowe, of Franklin Parks and Recreation.