Women?s Hoops Partners with Norman Parks & Rec

NORMAN – On a cold January night, the Oklahoma women's basketball program was filled with excitement. Over 70 local youth basketball coaches filled the facility to go through an hour-long clinic led by head coach Sherri Coale on how to coach young players and develop their skills on the hardwood.

This year, the women's basketball team along with the Sooner Jr. Fan Club have partnered with the Norman Parks and Recreation Department to sponsor its winter basketball league.

“We are excited about partnering with the City of Norman and the Parks and Recreation Department,” OU director of community relations Kevin Henry said. “This is a great opportunity for our coaches and staff to build a lasting relationship with the city of Norman and their youth leagues.

“There are so many benefits to participating in sports at a young age and the parents that volunteer their time to coach are teaching the game at it truest form. We look forward to continuing this partnership in other sports for years to come.”

Known as the Junior Jammer program, the league gives local children the opportunity to play in leagues from first to sixth grade. This season, their uniforms will be embroidered with a Sooner Jr. Fan Club logo to tie their team in the Sooners' program.

“Norman Parks and Recreation is excited about this opportunity to partner up with the University of Oklahoma Athletic & Sooner Jr. program with our Junior Jammer basketball program, the possibilities are endless for the young athletes in our league from everything from clinics to Sooner women's basketball games and everything in between,” Jason Olsen of Normans Parks and Recreation stated.

“We look forward to building this relationship with the University and passing on the benefits to our participants in our youth sports leagues and this will be a great opportunity the kids in Norman to build a passion for the Sooners through our programs here at Norman Parks and Recreation.”

For over an hour during the coaching clinic, youth coaches learned new drills, oversaw teaching techniques for fundamentals and even went over a couple of coaching tips from the Sooners' head coach. The focus was on the development of young basketball players, not the result on the scoreboard.

“Sherri Coale is a fantastic ambassador of the game of basketball for the state of Oklahoma,” Henry said. “From her years as a high school coach, she understands the importance of developing the fundamentals of the game and how it is critical to learn these things at a young age. I am thrilled to assist her with creating the first type of partnership of this kind with the City of Norman and OU Athletics.”

The Junior Jammer league has scheduled a designated night off from competition to join the Sooners for their Big 12 matchup against West Virginia on Feb. 7 at Lloyd Noble Center.

For more information on Oklahoma women's basketball, follow the Sooners on Twitter (@OU_WBBall) or like Oklahoma Sooners Women's Basketball on Facebook.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Women?s Hoops Partners with Norman Parks & Rec

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