PROVINCETOWN — Chris McKernan turns the key in the lock at the Veterans Memorial Community Center gym at 5:30 p.m. every Wednesday night for pickup basketball. Open gyms like this are places where friends are made and basketball players born.
The number of players varies on any given night, but on Oct. 2 around 20 players show up. They are all ages. Some arrive on bikes or dribble their basketballs on foot up the hill past the monument. Younger players are dropped off by their parents. The smells of the VMCC’s shiny new wood floor and the leather of a new Wilson basketball mingle in the air. On the court are players who pay attention to pickup basketball’s many fashion options from pink sneakers to, well, pajamas.
Players warm up before games. Ivaylo Koev, 22, shoots around in a green shirt that says “Bulgaria.” He will head back to his home country in just three nights after working all summer in town.
Provincetown’s Jay Luster is getting some shots up and talking with a few local players he’s trained over the past few years. “I need this to get back on the grind!” he says, looking ahead to the open runs. Luster played professionally for Las Caoba (Caoba City) and Reales de la Vega in the Dominican Republic after graduating from Nauset High School, where he was a Cape and Islands All-Star in 2007.
Now Luster coaches a semipro team, the Mass Wolves, and, closer to home, Wellfleet’s 5th- and 6th-graders on the co-ed town rec team. He says that coaching kids and being a role model is what called him back to the court, though if you’re over the hill, don’t worry, he also has in mind starting a Tuesday night adult league.
Luster also started training some younger players in Provincetown after he read about their winless season two years ago. “I didn’t want them to hate the sport forever because they never experienced the joy of what it feels like to win a basketball game,” he says. He says pickup games are important for younger players because they get to see, up close, how the game should be played. Last season, that middle-school team turned it around and went 13-1.
“What I try to do is give the kids the confidence to want to play,” says Luster. “It keeps them out of trouble, keeps them active and making new friends.” In the end, he says, a lot of young people who come to open gym end up wanting to play for their high schools.
Luster keeps tabs on all the open gym options on the Outer Cape, posting so friends on social media will know they can catch a pickup game not just in Provincetown but at the gym at the Wellfleet Elementary School or on the outdoor courts behind the fire station in Eastham and in Provincetown’s East End. And, starting next month, Luster plans to follow McKernan’s footsteps and open the gym in Wellfleet at 6 p.m. on Thursday nights for pickup games there.
The game is on, and 10-year-old JJ Blake spots up with a smooth leftie jumper. He’s set to play for Luster’s 5th- and 6th-grade Wellfleet team this season. He’s comfortable with the ball and a confident shooter from distance.
Back on defense, Christopher Millan, who is 14 and a freshman at Cape Tech, guards Elia Giaquinto, 26, a personal trainer who played back when he was in high school at Nauset. Millan’s game has developed through these open runs. He’s an elite passer and ballhandler and plays tough defense. Giaquinto can throw down some dunks. He’s impossible to stay in front of. He pulls up from the three-point line and sinks the shot.
Down on the other end of the court, Sacha Hunter, 14, corrals the ball on a drive to the hoop. Hunter is a freshman at Nauset High. He is on his way to becoming a serious basketball player with a silky leftie jumper and an ability to explode past defenders. He’s only been playing the sport for two years. He and Millan led the Provincetown team’s turnaround last season.
Elizabeth Stefani sinks a midrange shot from the right side. She and Lily Smith will both be playing JV girls basketball at Nauset this year. Stefani is a tough defender and finds openings on the offensive end. Smith sees the floor well and can anticipate plays before they happen. She’s quick to the ball and has a knack for the game. Both players run back down court where sharpshooter Mia Gonsalves catches a pass on the wing. Gonsalves will be playing varsity basketball at Cape Cod Tech this year.
Jamari Brissett, a Nauset junior, rebounds a shot and dribbles it through the defense. Brissett started watching the rec’s open gyms when he was little and his dad was a janitor at the school. He worked on his game all summer. A solid defender, he never backs down from a challenge, even when he’s wearing his pajamas.
Seventh-grader Demario Ferguson is working hard on his game in anticipation of leading Provincetown’s middle years team this season. Ferguson catches the ball at the top of the key and pivots off his right foot. He never gives up on a play and has a huge upside to his game.
Back downcourt, Millan bats the ball out of Giaquinto’s hands, but once the ball is checked back into play, Giaquinto glides through the lane for two.
