Drew Gally is a 26-year-old technical management consultant living in New York City, but he still remembers his third grade championship win with his Marblehead Youth Basketball Association team, the Magic. He’s pretty sure his trophy is still in his boyhood bedroom in Marblehead.

“I just loved competing against my friends. It was really my first intro to basketball, and I made friends with all the kids on my team,” Gally told the Current.

Gally went on to play hoops in high school and still plays today in a rec league in Manhattan.

MYBA is celebrating its 20th season this fall with new and expanded events, including a special celebration for adults at The Beacon Restaurant on Oct. 29, 5-7:30 p.m.

Registration for the 2024-25 season is open through Oct. 15, and boys in grades 3-8 can sign up at marbleheadyba.leagueapps.com. 

“At its core, it’s about basketball,” said MYBA President Bob Lemmond. “It’s about kids getting out into the gym, being on a team, having fun, competing and making friends.”

About 300 boys on 30 teams participate in MYBA each season, playing nearly 450 games. It takes about 70 volunteers, including coaches, to run the season.

It all started in 2004, when Paul Mitchell and three friends — Phil Coughlin, Bill Quigley and CJ Millett — decided Marblehead needed a youth basketball league.

“The four of us pulled the thing together,” Mitchell said with a chuckle. “We didn’t know how to rent gym time. We didn’t know how to get uniforms. We didn’t know anything. We called it the family-friendly league. It’s not a try-out league; it’s a sign-up league. We had about 100 kids the first year.”

Mitchell ran the league for 18 years before stepping down two years ago. Asked about his favorite memories, he couldn’t pick just one.

“The kids are so much fun to watch, that’s really it,” he said. “You watch a bunch of fifth graders play a game and then a kid hits a tie-breaker… One time my grandson hit a three-pointer to win a game. Those championship games at the Veterans gym — we had a high school student from an a cappella group sing the national anthem, and the kids were standing at mid-court like they were at the Celtics. Those things sound a little hokey, but they’re wonderful.”

This year, MYBA is growing its travel program to include grades 4-8 and expanding its James Galante Memorial Tournament. Meet Your Team Night is scheduled for Nov. 13.

“It’s a pretty crazy night with 300 boys in one gym,” Lemmond said.

For more information, visit marbleheadyba.leagueapps.com.

Editor Leigh Blander is an experienced TV, radio and print journalist.

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