Gauchos Family,
 
The AAU season is coming to a close. The Gauchos program had some bright spots this season that I want to highlight and bring to your attention. 

Coach Tommy Swinton and Coach Wee did a fabulous job with the 2nd Grade team and Tommy's 15u 9th Grade team made us all proud by making it to the Super Showcase Championship game in Orlando. The 2nd grade team placed 7th at the AAU National Championships.   Having two teams ranked in the top 10 is a great accomplishment for Tommy and the Gauchos program.  
We have two 3rd Grade teams currently competing at the AAU Nationals in Orlando. We wish both teams much success.  
The Lady Choz guided by Earl Elliott had an incredible summer. The Gauchos 15u girls ended the AAU season winning the Nike Nationals in Augusta Ga, and making it to four other high profile championship games. The Lady Choz 15u girls will most likely be ranked as the #1 team in the country...a huge accomplishment for the Gauchos HS Girls program.    
The Gauchos 17u and 16u boys  teams made it to the Sweet 16 playoff round at the AAU National Championships in Orlando. The 17u team placed 11th out of 248 teams.  
The weak economy certainly had an impact on our middle school teams and their ability to compete nationally this year. This was the first time in a long time that the Gauchos program had no representation in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade AAU Nationals.  
I guess I would classify this year as a year of transition and change. We have a new Director of Basketball Operation (Billy Singleton) who shares my goal of making the Gauchos program the top AAU after school basketball program in the country.  
I am proud of all the coaches, players, and parents who have committed themselves to being the best that they can be and keeping the Gauchos a highly respected program.  
As a family I believe that we all  want to help  Gauchos Basketball remain the country's premiere grass roots basketball program and for that I am grateful.  
In the coming year some adjustments will be made to ensure that the program as a whole continues to make improvement.  
We will end this year with a game against the Netherlands Junior National team August 6th at our gym.  We will wrap up the Gauchos Summer League at Haffen Park, and host our 2nd Annual Summer Camp at SUNY Purchase College Aug 23rd-Aug 26th. Most importantly our 6th Annual Gala Fund Raiser will be held at the Legends Club at Yankee Stadium Wednesday September 15th 6pm - 10pm.
 
We hope that you will choose to come out and lend your support to each of these important events for the program.   
Please send photos that you would like to have included in the 2011 calendar. Thank you for all of the support.

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Welcome to the Grand Prix 14U Tournament June 18 - June 20th at Gauchos Gymnasium

Pool A

Gauchos (Harris)

Central Jersey Hawks

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Rumble In The Bronx one of the country's largest AAU tournaments with over 200 teams competing in four different age divisions (14U, 15U, 16U, 17U) rolled through the Bronx this past weekend.  The Gauchos 14U, 16U and 17U teams each one  winning their first pool play game on Friday.  The 16's got the tournament started by beating Raising Champions by over 25 points at Manhattan College.  The 17's first win was not as easy...This was the first tournament for the junior classmen since clinching a spot in Nike's Peach Jam National Championship for the new Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL).  It was also the first tournament where the team had 90 percent of the team. 

The only player missing from the game was Omar Calhoun who is recovering from an injury that he sustained during the team's last trip to Los Angeles.  The 17's first opponent was Hoop Heaven a well coached team from New Jersey that almost sneaked out a victory against the older and more talented Gauchos 17U.  The Hoop Heaven team used constant motion with screens and aggressive rebounding to confuse the Gauchos defenders who consistently let the sharp shooting guards from Hoop Heaven knock down a dozen uncontested 3 point shots.  With the game tied and a minute left in the game the Gauchos Shaquille Stokes was fouled on a dribble penetration move that put him on the line to shoot 1 and 1.  Shaq knocked down both shots to give the Gauchos a two point lead with 23 seconds remaining.  Hoop Heaven would have the ball giving them an opportunity to either tie the game or win the game with a 3 point play or shot.  The Gauchos Derrick Wilson's aggressive defense on a last second 3 point attempt was just enough to cause a deflection which saved the game.  Gauchos 17's did not defend well nor rebound throughout the game. 

Coach Steve Harris' team smoked their first opponent (Team Missouri) by over 40 points.  The only disappointment of the evening came from the 15U team who gave up a 7 point lead to lose their first game.

Day 2  was filled with highs and lows for the Gauchos program...The 17's began the day with a blowout victory against the Hurricanes of Florida.  The team's next game against a rough and physical Mass Rivals team would prove very costly for the Gauchos.  Both teams showed they came to play with strong defense and creative offense displays.  The Gauchos began to pull away with 4 minutes remaining in the first half when Dustin Hoague a team leader of the Gauchos 17u team was involved in a head to head collision  with a player from the other team.  The Mass Rivals player lost 3 of his upper level from the head blow, but the injury which Dustin  suffered would send the young star to the emergency room at St. Barnabas Hospital.   When the two players collided it didn't look too bad until I noticed that Dustin was whaling in pain on the floor and the other player ran out of the gym after picking up his teeth.  I went down to inspect Dustin's injury and quickly noticed that he received a deep gash to the top of his head that was bleeding profusely.  I knew instantly that Dustin would have to be rushed to the hospital. 

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The Lady Choz 17's Nike elite group and the Lady Choz 13's group traveled to
Cincinnati, Ohio for the Memorial Day Nike Midwest challenge to measure up to the
best the Midwest had to offer, and the Choz did not disappoint. Each teams went 4-1
and the teams only loss were to the eventual division champions...The Nike Elite
Group faced stiff competition winning games over Illinois Xcitment, Ohio Lady
Attack, Nike All Ohio, and Nike DFW 2012...and loss a very challenging game by 8
points to DFW Nike Elite... the elite group got outstanding contributions from its
All American back-court of Briyona Canty and Betnijah Laney, and the heavily
recruited Starr Breedlove...The young Choz did just as well making a name for itself
in the Midwest by dominating the competition with a collection of some of the best
young talent anywhere including stand out play from Zaire Oneal, Mei-Lyn Bautista,
De-Asia Jones, Isis Young and Adashia Franklyn. The team schedule included Cincinnati's Finest, Cincinnati Lady Tigers, Tennessee
Glory, and Alana Beard Future and only loss came to Nike Fairfax Stars in a close
game filled with controversy. The kids had an outstanding time in Ohio and thank
all the parents and supporters from the Lady Choz organization.

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Lady Choz Basketball 2010 Schedule

NCAA Division 1 Schedule

April: Boo Williams - Hampton Virginia

July 5-7 > Summer Elite Championship, Rutgers University

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Here are the scores and final results of the 13U Division 1 District Championship games that were held at Gauchos.

Friday May 7th 2010

Riverside Hawks 37 vs. Gauchos 46

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The New York Metropolitan AAU District Championship for Boys 13U Division1 commences Friday May 7th at Gauchos Gym.  The schedule is below.  The cost of admission is $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for children.  Gauchos Gym is located at 478 Gerard Avenue (between 146th and 149th streets) in the Bronx.

Teams Participating

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King of New York Basketball Classic was smokin' hot this past weekend.  Here are the scores for the playoffs.

15U Division Quarter Finals

Hoop Dreamz 31 v. New Heights 59

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Teamwork Foundation's New York Gauchos inaugural King of New York Basketball Classic came to a successful ending Sunday with a series of great semi final and championship games that were played at the Gauchos Gym and seven other venues across the Bronx.  

It was a little over a year ago when I first recieved the initial design drafts of the King of New York Basketball Classic's logo and immediately thought about the potential impact that this new event would have on the Gauchos basketball program and the borough of the Bronx.  I knew that the Gauchos would now become a key player in the production of large-scale youth basketball tournaments.  The vision behind the King of New York was always to have the "best of the best" clubs from across the country come to NYC to compete against the best teams that the New York Metropolitan area has to offer.  The vision came to fruition this past weekend with over 70 teams playing at 10 different venues.   

With any new startup business endeavor the risk is always high because their are so many variables that fall outside of controllable factors which determines success or failure.  I spent many days and nights thinking about all of the What-If scenarios that could potentially disrupt the quality of the tournament and overwhelm the Gauchos' limited resources.  I wanted to make sure that all of the tournament's participants (coaches, players, parents and spectators) enjoyed their time and left having had a great experience.  We worked closely with the Borough President's office to select the best available venues.  The King of New York Staff did a great job with managing the logistics of the tournament.  We had some fires that developed once the tournament started, but they were all quickly addressed and difused before they became larger and un-manageable.  Before the tournament began Nike's Grass Roots Basketball group granted the 16U Division with a bid to Nike's premiere youth basketball event Peach Jam.  The bid would be given to any Nike 16U team who wins the championship.  The 16U division was represented with 8 of Nike's top elite boys basketball clubs including; All Ohio Red, Team Final, King James Shooting Stars, Albany City Rocks, New Jersey Playaz (red and white), Metro Hawks, and New York Gauchos.  Having the bid was one thing but winning it would not be easy for the Nike teams because they had formidable competition from non Nike teams such as Long Island Lightning, New Heights, Brooklyn Ballers, Team IZOD, BC Eagles, NJ Gym Ratz, Positive Direction Royals, NJ Panthers and South Mountain Select.  The semi final match-ups in the 16U division had New Heights vs. Playaz and Gauchos vs. Metro Hawks.  The championship game between New Heights and the Gauchos was great.  The Gauchos played their best game of the year beating New Heights to win their first King of New York Basketball Classic tournament and earning the Peach Jam bid.

The winners of the other divisions are:

13U - The City

14U - New Heights

15U - BABC (Boston, MA)

16U - New York Gauchos

17U - Playaz Red (New Jersey)

Photos from the tournament will be posted in the next day or so along with some great pictures so please check back often to view the lates KONY blog.

King of New York returns in 2011 April 29th - May 1st so lock in the date now.

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Tournament Schedules For The King of New York Basketball Classic.

The schedules below have been edited.  All revised schedules were posted 4/30/2010 11:33am EST.  Click on the division that you want to see the schedule for.  Make sure that you have Adobe Reader installed on your computer to read the PDF files.


13U Division (OFFICIALLY UPDATED 4-30)

14U Division (OFFICIALLY UPDATED 4-29)

15U Division (OFFICIALLY UPDATED 4-30)

16U Division (OFFICIALLY UPDATED 4-29)

17U Division (OFFICIALLY UPDATED 4-30)


ALL SCHEDULES ARE NOW LIVE.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE!!!!!

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