Upward season ends with program

By Mike Ford, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Thursday, March 1, 2007 (3 years ago)
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The Upwards program is an interdenominational Christian ministry that stresses values and good sportsmanship over competition. It is designed for elementary-age children and places boys and girls on the basketball court, while other girls learn cheerleading.DELPHOS — As it winds down its second season in Delphos, the Upward Basketball and Cheerleading program celebrates a growth spurt compared to its premier season.

“We had 270 basketball players and cheerleaders combined. We had 71 basketball and cheerleading coaches; up 10 from last year. We also had 25 different people referee our games throughout the season and they are very important people to us,” said Director Bob Kiracofe.

It’s not just the increased number of volunteers that make the season successful. The growth also makes more activity possible.

“We’re very happy with the season and are looking at holding an Upward Basketball Camp over two Saturdays in July just to work on skills; the details are still being worked on for that,” Kiracofe said.

The program is an interdenominational Christian ministry that stresses values and good sportsmanship over competition. It is designed for elementary-age children and places boys and girls on the basketball court, while other girls learn cheerleading. Players’ skills are evaluated prior to the season and teams are designed so no group of kids leave the court having lost by a large margin.

Basic Christian instruction is part of every game and also during practices.

“Our goal is to provide a ministry. When I look at our numbers, parents want their kids in a program like this even though they go to church and come from good families. We have 32 different churches represented in this program and, to me, that’s a big positive. We also have about 32 kids from families that don’t attend church and we follow up with them as an ongoing practice. That’s what we’re doing and will continue to do after the banquet,” Kiracofe said.

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