With larger backing from community, Carlisle Summer League ready for third year at Memorial Park

The music, atmosphere and energy flowed from Carlisle’s Memorial Park last June and July, welcoming the return of the Carlisle Summer League after a two-year absence.

The CSL, founded in 2019 by the Carlisle Community Coalition, is a free co-ed, no-practice basketball league that includes 10U, 12U and 14U teams. Games, held at Memorial Park Tuesday and Thursday nights, incorporate both athletics and community involvement.

The third installment of the summer league, which endured a pair of COVID-canceled seasons in 2020 and 2021, tips off at 6 p.m. Tuesday with its largest field to date. The CSL began with 140 players in 2019, expanded to approximately 170 last summer and has blossomed to 200-plus players this year who have been divided into six teams per age group.

“I think everyone’s become part of our vision,” co-executive director Tim Atkinson said. “It started back in 2019, and even before 2019, Preston Stackfield created the Carlisle Coalition with the summer league in mind. That kind of started as a close-knit, small-group vision, and now that we’ve been able to offer the summer league twice, the community has been able to see what all it entails with as many moving pieces as it has. They’ve kind of joined the ship or jumped on board, so to speak.”

A portion of the league’s growth is rooted in player interest, but behind the scenes, businesses and organizations have lent a helping hand. Twelve area businesses and organizations will sponsor teams this year, and Southside Deli and A Brand New Leaf Landscaping stepped forward as court sponsors.

Jordan Stasyszyn, the league’s other co-executive director, said Partnership for Better Health also made a substantial donation to help pay for referees. Banner sponsors are another new feature, which will hang on the fence line beside the courts. Changes on the court include the adoption of the double bonus, which awards a team two free throws per foul after the opponent accumulates five fouls in a quarter.

“It’s grown and just everyone knows about (the summer league) now,” Stasyszyn said. “They look forward to the announcement of the Summer League registration being open, and the community, if they’re not playing, enjoys coming out.”

The CSL and its participants plan to uphold several traditions. The league, while teaching lessons on the court, focuses on the athletes’ potential to make a difference outside the lines.

Prior to the start of the season, each participant is required to hand in their fourth marking period report card. Grades that are equivalent to a D or F require the player to attend a Monday study session in order to play each week. Other practices in the league include trash pick-up following games and a no-tolerance policy, meaning players, coaches and spectators must interact with respect and support the players on the court.

Atkinson and Stasyszyn also place an emphasis on helping players interact with others outside of their friend groups, assigning players unfamiliar with each other to the same team. 

“I think one unique aspect was this year, when kids registered, we asked them to provide what school they currently went to,” Atkinson said. “And for our breakdown, we were able to see we’re actually getting a handful of kids in from the Newville and Big Spring area, the Shippensburg area and reaching out towards the Harrisburg area with kids from Susquehanna Township and Harrisburg School District.”

Another component set to return is a nod to Carlisle community staples. The CSL implemented the Frank Petre 4-point shot and the Billy Owens’ target score into last year’s games. Championship Saturday, scheduled for July 29, is dedicated to Petre, and the CSL named one of its 2023 10U teams after the late 1966 Carlisle graduate.

The 4-point shot can be scored from beyond half court with less than five seconds remaining in the second and fourth quarters. Meanwhile, the Billy Owens’ target score, honoring the Carlisle basketball great, is a spin on the Elam ending where 32 points — a total matching Owens’ jersey number in high school — will be added to the leading team’s score at the end of the third quarter. The team to then reach the target score or tally the most points at the end of regulation wins the game.

”Those were two added things sort of just to pay homage to two local people that had a major influence,” Stasyszyn said.

And after the pair of shelved seasons in 2020 and 2021, Stasyszyn said they can use last year’s revival as a blueprint. He felt last summer was when the league started to gain major traction.

“We’ve just found that the build-up and anticipation really speaks volumes to the amount of fun they had,” Stasyszyn said, “and that we’re creating memories that will last them for a really long time.”

Atkinson had a similar thought.

“I think maybe it wasn’t necessarily something learned, but maybe just an emphasis on something we already knew is when you just treat people first, everything else kind of falls in line,” he said. “Your vision kind of falls in line. The objectives you have kind of fall in line. And whatever those goals might be, they kind of just fall in line by treating people first. And that’s just what our league is about, is we want to make sure people feel good. We want to make sure people feel safe. We want to make sure people feel comfortable. We want to make sure people feel like they’re going without any needs. And when we’re able to accomplish that, we have something really cool with the league.”