Lil Canes is a co-ed introductory basketball program for children Pre-K to grade 2. The program runs Saturday mornings from December to March in the Hoosac Valley Middle School gymnasium.

The goal of the program is to introduce the game of basketball to the youngest members of our community, develop fundamental basketball skills, build participant confidence and overall to have fun. 

Divisions

Lil Cane’s participants are split into two divisions, Red (Thunder) and Black (Lightning). Each participant is given a colored shirt that is worn each week to denote their division. 

The red division is primarily preschool and kindergarten aged youth. This group is non-competitive and focuses on gross motor skills, hand eye coordination drills and getting comfortable handling a ball. Each week the group cycles through a series of age appropriate drills and fun activities that focus on six core skills: running, jumping, passing, catching, dribbling and shooting. Drills are structured as games and are meant to be fun non-competitive activities.

The black division is primarily 1st and 2nd graders. This group focuses on basic development skills such as dribbling, shooting, passing and ball handling as well as offensive and defensive concepts which are needed to participate in organized basketball levels. Team concepts and game play basics are then introduced with participation in short 5 on 5 games by the end of the program. This is a pre-competitive instruction program that introduces competitive basketball while emphasizing participation, skill development, fair play and positive competition.