GAMES – Lower Cape AAU Team Travels to Disney

Those who’ve been around Cape May County athletics have heard it before. When local players achieve great things they can be referred to as the “big fish in a small pond.” The feeling is that this county’s youngsters compete against smaller and weaker competition and that traveling out of the area is the only means of true measurement.
The AAU Cape May Kings recently ventured to Orlando to compete in the Disney Wide World of Sports AAU Basketball Tournament.
Led by coaches Kevin Freeman and Nick Pascucci, the group of 14 and under seventh and eighth grade boys from Cape May and Lower Township were exposed to taller, faster and stronger peers from around the country.
“They saw the com-mitment it takes to go to the next level,” said Pascucci, a U.S. Coast Guard officer who was very re-cently re-assigned to the Sunshine State after a six-year stint in Cape May. “What they saw on the trip inspired and moti-vated them to achieve. We wanted them to see how serious people out-side of New Jersey take the sport. We wanted them to get a broader view.”
Freeman said that since all of the athletes were strictly from Cape May and Lower Township, it was “more difficult to compete on the AAU circuit” because most AAU clubs pick up the most outstanding players from a wide geographic region.
The Kings consisted of A.J. Pastor, Ali’nzo Love and Chris Bob of The Vil-las; Kevin Bryson of North Cape May; Cameron Freeman of Erma; and Will Bell, Conor Kennedy, Steven Rodriguez and Nick Pascucci of Cape May.
“A.J. was our center and leading scorer and rebounder,” said Free-man, a Cape May native who competed for the Caper-Tigers. “Cameron is a speedy point guard and a tough defender. Nick and Will were the only seventh graders. Nick was a tough outside shooter and Will a strong rebounder.”
The coach said Ali’nzo was “the team’s most improved player who al-ways gave 100 percent effort” in rebounding and defending.
“Steven is a lightning quick defender and Kevin Bryson was our wing man and steals leader,” said Freeman, a N.J. Youth and Family Services employee. “Conor is the most versatile because he can play four positions. Chris is a lanky shot blocker.”
The squad all competes for the Teitelman School team and they participate in the Cape May Police Athletic League under the direction of Officer Tony Genaro.
Freeman and Pascucci expressed deep appreciation for the team’s generous sponsors, including Jay and Val Sporl of Erma, Cape May City Recreation, Murphy Fence, ACME Supermarkets, and Walmart.
“The parents and sponsors made this trip happen,” said Freeman. “We did a beef ‘n’ beer and really received great support from the commu-nity. We can’t say enough about how great everyone was. Everything was paid for with donations.”
Freeman said the coaches wanted dedication from the players but also a little bit more.
“We wanted the kids to work hard and improve as basketball players but we really wanted them to get out of the area and expe-rience some tough competition,” said Freeman. “They need to see that the world is much bigger than Cape May County. They also learned some valuable lessons from our fund-raising efforts. They sat outside of Walmart and ACME on the weekends asking for donations.”
Freeman said the kids improved their games while also developing friendships.
“It’s an experience they can tell their children about,” said the coach. “They had the opportunity to learn some life lessons about working hard and achieving goals. The team became like a family. They spent a lot of time with each other with fundraising, practicing, traveling to Florida, and staying in a house together for a week.”
Pascucci, a New York native who played college basketball, noted the friendships the players made with athletes from across the region and the country. They’d seen some of these players in local and regional tournaments.
“The sport stretches broad and wide but some-times the basketball com-munity can be a small one,” he said. “We were just a local basketball team that raised some money to compete on the AAU level. We went against some basketball power-houses in Florida with teams sponsored by major companies. Even on the local level of AAU I didn’t see many teams like us where all the kids were from one town.”
Freeman identified defense as the team’s pri-mary area of improve-ment. “We stressed de-fense in practice and at times it came and went,” he said. “Toward the end our defense really picked up and we were able to press more which led to easy buckets and more fun!”
Aside from Disney, the Kings participated in the Penn Jersey Classic, May 16 and 17; the U.S.J.N. Nike Memorial Classic, May 28 and 29; and the South Jersey Jazz Battle on the Boardwalk, June 18 and 19.
“It wasn’t just about basketball,” said Freeman. “We raised enough money to purchase uniforms for the kids and to stay in a beautiful seven bedroom house in Florida. We also were able to buy tickets for the boys to go to Uni-versal Studios, Island of Adventure, and Aquatica.”
Reach Rossi at Joerossi61@comcast.net