The everyday stress that accompanies high school basketball is not made for everyone. With homework and extracurricular activities, some students find that they are not able to commit to the high school’s basketball program. The Wilbraham Recreation Department offers an intramural basketball program for those students in grades 9-12, male or female, looking to continue their play at a much less hectic pace. The $60 program is low key and a reasonable option for many.

While Wilbraham teams account for half of the teams in the league, South Hadley, Belchertown, Ludlow, Monson, and East Longmeadow are also involved in the program. “The players enjoy it, the coaches enjoy it, and we enjoy being able to give our youth the chance to take part in such a quality league,” said Brian J. Litz, director of the Recreation Department.

The league has attracted many high school basketball players. One positive aspect is that there are no practices involved. Senior Ben Bradford, never having taken a season off from sports in his high school career, needed a break. Instead of playing for the boys varsity team this year, he decided to play rec basketball. “I wanted to be able to spend more time doing other things, instead of only having time for basketball and homework,” said Bradford.

Sarah Gernux, another newcomer to the rec league, played on Minnechaug’s junior varsity team for two years, and this year tried something different with the rec league. “I wanted fun to be more of a priority. A lot of my friends are on my team, and it makes basketball a lot more enjoyable,” said Gernux.

Wilbraham has been part of the recreation league for about seven years. Three of those seven years, senior Nick Slattery has played rec for the town. He chose to begin playing because his friends were playing. Slattery thought it would be fun and that it would keep him in shape. “It’s different from Minnechaug basketball because there are no practices, you just show up to a game and play. There are no set plays, so the actual game is a lot less formal,” said Slattery.

Recreation basketball is a great program for many reasons and high school students in the area have taken advantage of it. It puts more of an emphasis on having a good time than it does winning, and it gives students the opportunity to be part of a team. For junior Angela Pessolano, enjoying playing basketball was her main goal with the program.

After playing with Gernux on the high school’s junior varsity team for two years, she also had similar priorities when she signed up. She wanted the fun to outweigh the pressure by playing on a rec team. “I love rec because the coaches don’t yell, and no one is nervous about how many minutes they’ll get in,” said Pessolano. “There’s no pressure to play well, and no one is uptight about anything. We play for the love of the game.”