Maine Athletic Club’s fall basketball offers sneak peek of upcoming high school season

For those Eastern and Central Maine basketball junkies that are getting a little antsy for the basketball season to get started, here is a way to feed your basketball habit. The Maine Athletic Club, run by Mark LeClerc of Fayette, is in the middle of its fall basketball program.
This program is run on Sundays through Nov 4. They are currently heading into their fourth week.
The teams are mostly made up of players for high school and middle school teams.
The program is run in Eastern Maine at Hermon Elementary School, Hermon Middle School and the Old Town/Orono Y. In Central Maine they are run in three gyms in the Central Maine area and three gyms are run in the Scarborough and the Falmouth area.
This season there are 97 teams and it started out five years ago with just 35 teams.
The games are very competitive, well-run and well-officiated. Local groups, school boosters and clubs, get a chance raise funds, usually by running the events and taking the gate receipts and concessions.
Last year’s MAC program of 85 teams raised more than $40,000 for local programs and charities.
The teams are matched by level of play, each team plays two games per Sunday, and LeClerc does his very best to accommodate teams by location, competition, and scheduling. The entry fee is $595 and each team plays 12 games.
If you want to see what teams have for the coming season just drop in on a site. Games start at 8:30 a.m. and usually run through 6:30 p.m. with 10 games being played daily at each site. For schedules, visit maineathleticclub.com
Also, there are many good middle school teams that offer the stars of tomorrow for each school’s program.
Currently, there are also fall leagues run by Maine Hoops at the Sports Center in Saco, which takes care of many teams from Southern Maine while MB Nation also has a fall program in the Portland area.
There are close to 200 teams participating between MAC, Maine Hoops and MB Nation fall programs.
MAC fall basketball is more of an emphasis on local high school and middle school teams, not all-star teams as in the spring when teams get ready for AAU tournaments.
So if you are a basketball fan who craves to see some exciting action come on out as I have seen many close and exciting games. I have been involved with MAC for the past five seasons as an official and as the assignor for games in the Greater Bangor area.
The play may be a little ragged at times and the conditioning is not there in many cases, as the teams are not practicing and only playing one day a week, but the teams play hard, the coaches coach hard and the officials work hard. The product is excellent under the conditions of playing only one day a week as a team.
There has also been excellent attendance at these games and the crowds get right into the games by supporting their teams.
Also, some teams are missing key players because of other commitments, but this just gives another player a chance to get actual playing time before tryouts and preseason starts.
There are only five more weeks before the preseason starts for high school basketball teams and many middle school teams start before that.
So if you would like to get a look at what your team may look like for the coming season check out the schedules and maybe you can catch your favorite team in action the next three Sundays.
I look forward to assigning officials for the games and to officiating each weekend as the basketball season fast approaches.
I know the officials I assign do an excellent job and look forward also to Sunday’s games.
The teams are coached by parents or non-school coaches who do an excellent job on a volunteer basis, and the MAC follows the Maine Principals’ Association Sports Season Policy that does not allow regular school high school coaches to be involved in any way, even so far as not even being able to attend the games.
Besides visiting the MAC website, I can tell you if your high school or middle school team is playing. You may e-mail me at mrp17@roadrunner.com or call at 356-6787.