Edge Athletics hosted its eighth annual “Get an Edge” tournament for the younger division this weekend at The Poughkeepsie Day and Millbrook schools. In all, over 50 games were played in two days in the 11u-14u age divisions. The tournament featured teams from the Albany, New Jersey, and New York City areas as well as many local teams. The five game round robin style gave the coaches a chance to provide a lot of basketball time to the athletes. “The whole objective is to give clubs an inexpensive way to play as many games as possible in a single weekend,” said tournament director Jim Santoro. Coach Santoro, who was also sidelined due to an unexpected illness that came about this past Thursday, was pleased with the tournament in general. “Thanks to the entire Edge staff, parents, coaches, and athletes, the tournament went ahead without me.”
The Edge had a great showing all the way around posting an impressive overall record of 19-10. Although all of the teams played well, the 12u West sported a perfect 5-0 record, continuing its streak from the last tournament. Coach Verdis, who filled in for Coach Santoro’s 12u West team was very impressed. “It’s a great bunch of kids and they play hard. They really are getting the defense,” Verdis said of the 12u West team. And lets not forget the 11u boys who have won more games this year than they did all last season. “The kids were so intense and were thrilled with how they played against the Dream Team,” Coach Peek said. His team finished the weekend with a 4-1 mark. The 19-10 record aside, all of the Edge teams competed with enthusiasm, hard work, and respect……the core of the program’s philosophy. “We had a great weekend,” Coach Breitfeller commented. Breitfeller coaches both the 12u and 14u East. “The hard work the kids are putting into practices is really starting to show,” said Breitfeller.
The tournament will continue next weekend with the older division taking to the hardwood to compete with clubs coming as far south as Delaware. “Although I couldn’t be there this weekend, I was very proud of all our teams and am looking forward to seeing them compete next weekend,” said Santoro. With the teams performance and the overall tournament in general, there was a lot to be proud of, but It will certainly be hard to match next weekend.