Monday July 10, 2006

Basketball Team Heads To National Tourney

BRANDON - A group of young area hoopsters will be among more than 90 teams competing for the Amateur Athletic Union's national basketball championship for players age 15 and younger this week in Detroit.

The Brandon Bolts finished third in the state and qualified for the AAU tournament being played through Saturday.

The nine-player team is composed of young men who will enter 10th grade in August.

Their coach said it's a chance for the players to get national exposure and experience.

"You want your kids to see who's out there and how good they are," Tom Haslam said.

Local computer-business owner Walter Perkins III put together the first Bolts team in 1999 to give his son an opportunity to polish his game.

"We have kids who want to play on the next level, and here in Hillsborough County they don't get a lot of exposure," Perkins said. "Playing AAU gives them that and also lets them know the kind of players they will be up against."

Guard A.J. Garden of Durant High School said the team's goal is simple.

"We want to win some ball games," he said.