Basketball, football teams in action next week at Bob Jones
One of the busiest weeks of the summer on campus at Bob Jones starts next week with the girl’s basketball team hosting a tournament and the football team hosting a 7-on-7 camp.
Schools from across the area will send a total of 16 varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen basketball teams to play in the three day event at the Bob Jones Gymnasium and the auxiliary gym starting Monday and lasting through Wednesday.
The Bob Jones Touchdown Club is the official host of the North Alabama Elite 7-on-7 Tournament to be held June 21 and 22. The event will be held on the grass fields north of Eastview Drive.
Three fields will be in play and action will begin at 10 A.M. after a coaches meeting at 8:30. Bob Jones will have 2 teams entered along with teams from Brewer, Madison County, Hamilton, Hazel Green, Russellville, Austin, Spain Park, and Madison Academy.
Each team consists of about 25 players counting both offense and defense. The teams play for 30 minutes. Bob Jones will have a team in action every period until 4 p.m. on the first day.
All teams will play 6 pool play games on Thursday and the single elimination tournament starts Friday morning.
Events like this are used by coaches to evaluate talent in the allowable summer play dates.
Bob Jones head football coach Kevin Rose said that his team has a long way to go and this competition is just the first step in preparing for the season.
Rose also said that he considers his two teams equal and not a starting team and a backup squad but he expects to see some separation based on performance of the players.
“We are going to have an open competition for starting positions so we don’t look at it as having an A team and a B team,” Rose said. “We have two teams and they are competing for jobs. At the end of the tournament we are going to make some decisions on who will go to Dalton and who will not.”
Bob Jones will take one team to Dalton, Georgia to try to defend their title in the Elite Southeastern 7-on-7 Tournament in July for 2 days.
“The great thing about 7-on-7 competitions is your kids are going to play at a faster speed when you go out there against a different team. There are some very good teams in our classification and in lower classifications. It’s a great way to see where you are in the passing game and in pass defense,” Rose said.
All games will have officials and spectators are encouraged to attend. There will be tents set up for fans and players to take a break from the sun.
“We are going to play 6 games and we will see some good things and some bad things but that is the only way to address them. You need to have your weaknesses exposed with live competition so you can know where they are,” Rose said.
The championship game on Friday should start around 2 p.m.
