Youth travel basketball comes to Dothan

Franklin Williams saw his son’s 11-under all-star team from the city league in Dothan lose in the state championship final three months ago.

A good task, no doubt. But he could tell the kids wanted more.

Not just a trophy, but much more basketball. At that point, Williams called the parents of the children and asked them if they wanted to keep playing.

“The kids were basically heartbroken,” Williams said. “They kept going on and on about how they wanted to play again.

“I called all of the parents and asked if they wanted to keep playing, and every single one of them said yes.”

And that’s how the Dothan Gym Rats started. While there’s an abundance of travel baseball teams in Dothan, the same opportunities for basketball were
lacking.

Williams didn’t even advertise for extra spots on the 11-under team, and eventually he got some more help and created a 12-under and 13-under team.

“Our turnout was very good for us not advertising,” Williams said. “We started with 11-under, and after the first week of practice, I had enough guys in the gym
the next week that said ‘Coach, I’m 12; I want to play, too.’

“It was hard for me to turn down so many kids wanting to play, and luckily I had two great coaches who stepped up and took responsibility.”

There are two older teams in Dothan, the 14-under Heat and 15-under Blaze. Williams’ oldest son Franklin III plays for the Blaze.

Williams, whose second-oldest son Tyson plays on the 11-under team, got Janasky Fleming and Mike Labanowski, both of whom have sons on the team, to
help him coach the 11-under. They’re playing under two youth divisions — United States Specialty Sports Association and Youth Basketball Organization of
America.

The Amateur Athletic Union is the more famous organization of the three, and the one that high school basketball players get the most interest from. Williams
said the Gym Rats were just playing in USSSA and YBOA tournaments this year, but could play in some AAU tournaments next year.

“USSSA is lot cheaper than AAU,” Williams said. “(USSA) entry fee is around 25 bucks per team and 89 bucks for insurance for entire year.

“AAU is a different story. You have to pay around 15 bucks per kid to register and close to 250 or 300 for (a tournament) entry fee.

“The good thing is that if you get insurance through one organization, the other organization will respect that insurance.”

The Gym Rats have played in four tournaments thus far, and are playing in a fifth this weekend in Pensacola, Fla. They’ve hosted three local tournaments
against other Wiregrass teams, and the 11-under won the state tournament in Auburn earlier this spring.

They could have gone to the national tournament in Fort Wayne, Ind., but didn’t have enough time to raise funds for the trip.

The Gym Rats aren’t just limited to boys. Two girls play on the 12-under team, but Williams said once they get to middle school, they have to find girls’ teams
to play for. One of the girls is Tori Jackson, daughter of former Alabama star safety Keven Jackson.

The forward/shooting guard who attends Beverlye Middle School said she gets plenty of heckling from boys on other teams.

“It’s different,” Jackson said. “I just block it out.”

Williams said he has high hopes for the program. He wants to see each age group from 10-under to 16-under have two teams starting next year, giving more
opportunities for youth in the city.

“I definitely expect it to grow,” Williams said. “The Wiregrass has not been exposed to this type of basketball at this age. I think it will be very good for the
community. You can definitely see a difference with these kids.”