For any athletic program to be a success, it must have a solid foundation.

Like Oak Harbor in wrestling or Genoa in football, the key is getting young people involved at an early age to learn fundamentals, refine skills and gain an edge on the competition.

In recent years, Clay basketball has struggled. That includes a 4-14 record last season. It doesn’t help that the team plays in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference, which features the likes of St. John’s Jesuit, Central Catholic and Whitmer.

Clay biddy basketball in the high school field house. (Press photo by Ken Grosjean)

So Clay coach Rob Belegrin is running the Junior Eagles Basketball Program. Belegrin, now in his third season, took the reins from Joe Guerrero, now the coach at Bowsher.

The mission statement of the organization is “to reinvent basketball in Oregon by developing players at a young age in a winning and challenging environment. The program will also create community pride through travel and AAU competitions.”

Belegrin is heavily invested in the program. A high school English teacher, he was as an assistant under Guerrero for 12 years, serving as the freshman, junior varsity coach and as a varsity assistant before taking over. Belegrin, a 1990 Clay grad, played while in high school.

“I’ve seen it all levels,” Belegrin said.

The program, which accepts youth in grades one through six, has had over 110 participants every year. This year’s season began October 2 and ended December 18.

“It’s a full-fledged eight weeks of basketball games, practices and development,” Belegrin said. “It’s a very difficult sport — you’ve got to run, dribble and think all at the same time. We focus on ball-handling and (them) not traveling. We teach them how to play man-to-man defense. From October to March, we’ve got kids in the gym. In the past, they were in the gym (for only) December.”

There are three separate age groups, divided into grades 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6 working with, and competing against, one another. Each team practices twice a week and the games take place on Sunday afternoons. The teams play approximately 16 games over the course of the season. For some of the more advanced players, they compete on travel teams with one another through March.

“It’s for the kids and that’s who I believe we’re doing this for. The kids seem to really love it,” he said. “It’s paying dividends, especially at the middle schools. The middle schools are starting to see results.”

The cost of is $75 and each kid gets receives a t-shirt, reversible jersey, and a bag.

Belegrin certainly hasn’t done it alone. He claims to have gotten help from a number of people in the community, including Walt Ralph, Joe Kiss, Scott Winckowski, Brad Morrison, Steve Finch, Crissy Finch and Clay baseball coach Garry Isbell.

“Those guys have been great,” Belegrin said.

So how did Belegrin and Guerrero come up with the idea?

“I went around to programs that were successful in our area,” he said. “I went to Perrysburg and talked to (Coach) Dave Boyce. Perrysburg is known in the area for having a quality youth basketball program.” 

As expected, Belegrin has gotten a positive response from the community.

“Ninety-five percent think it’s a great thing, and you have 5 percent of the people who are never going to be happy with anything,” he said. “I choose to look at the positives, not the negatives.”

There is one event that stands out that gives Belegrin satisfaction in knowing that his work is making a difference.

“Here’s a good little story: Three years ago, when I got the job I tried to get a group of kids together and go to a league in Perrysburg, I had some fifth graders, and we played a team from Perrysburg and lost 80-1. Recently, those kids beat the same Perrysburg team.”

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