It was realized that there weren't any organized sports programs for the children in this area during the winter months once baseball, football and soccer ended their programs. The decision was made to operate a very low-key basketball program to fill the gap between the end of the Fall sports programs and the beginning of the Spring sports programs. All of the practices and games were at the old
Gainesville ES in Haymarket. There were no trophies, medals, tournaments, etc. - instead the whole focus was on giving the children the chance to play basketball in order to give them some exercise during the winter. There were no fundraisers - unlike all of the other youth sports organizations in this area. The parents appreciated the very low-key nature of the basketball program. Since the late 80’s, VSA has become the GBA and now we have launch our new Griffins brand. The league has grown from less than 100 kids to over 1,800 boys and girls registered for this upcoming season. This includes a 6% growth in the last calendar year. This growth has created new opportunities for our league and some interesting challenges as we continue to try and accommodate the needs of our local youth. For the 1st time in our league’s history, we are forced to turn away over 200 area kids this year due to a lack of court space. This unfortunate occurrence coupled with our desire to continue to provide all of our youth with the opportunity to play basketball has led us to a new initiative.
