Tuskegee to Host Australian Basketball

The Tuskegee Area Youth Basketball League will open its 2017 recreation league play a day early with special guests from the country of Australia. The Weston Creek Woden Dodgers of Australia will stop in Tuskegee on Saturday, December 31 beginning at 9am as the Tuskegee Flyers will face the Dodgers. The Opelika Housing Authority will tip off against the Dodgers at 10:15am and the Camp Hill Bears will close action against the international team at 11:30am. All action will be played at the Tuskegee Housing Authority Life Development Center, located at 2501 Benson Avenue, Tuskegee Institute, AL 36088.

The Dodgers are the second international basketball team to come to Tuskegee in 2016. The YSE Belgium Lions annually play in Tuskegee in July as part of their American tour. YSE Belgium has come to Tuskegee since 2013. In 2017, the Lions are expected to return to Tuskegee in addition to a team from Egypt. The international basketball has been spearheaded by Tuskegee Parks & Recreation Director, A.D. Drew. Drew has been the person responsible for coordinating both the Belgium and the Australia team events in the Tuskegee area.

According to Drew, “Playing international teams in the game of basketball exposes our youths to other cultures and people. We use basketball as our excuse for educating our kids. While most of the youth in our community have never been able to travel overseas, they can now say they have foreign friends.

The kids from Tuskegee have come to look forward to every July when YSE Belgium comes to play and they are looking forward to the Australian team being here. With social media, the youths from both teams have formed bonds across the oceans.”

Tuskegee Parks & Recreation, along with the members of the Tuskegee Area Basketball League, are asking for the community to attend this event and show our visitors from Australia how America and Alabama supports youth basketball.