August 2, 2021
By David Lee Morgan Jr
Special to Dawg Days Basketball

There wasn’t an arrogant bone in the body of coach Rick Geiser or his players when he decided to have his 8th grade girls team play in the 7th grade boys bracket. And you could see why.

Kylie Geiser, Allison DeMassimo, Aria Regan, and Ava Maibach were skilled players and stood out among the 8th grade girls competition. In fact, the young ladies with the team name Fam 4, earned the top seed in their official bracket but declined to play because they were competing in the boys bracket. Although they came up short in the championship game, they defeated all of the top teams in the division at some point during the day.

“It's really good for them," Geiser said. "Playing against the guys is a different dynamic because the speed is different.”

Geiser said the advantage these young ladies had in the tournament was the fact that they have been playing together for the past four years on the AAU circuit.

“This is their second 3-on-3 tournament this summer,” Geiser said. “And you can tell they just know each other, and they know what each other does well."

What Geiser likes about the outdoor, playground setting is that it teaches players they can’t hide out there on the court. “Everybody's accountable for who they guard, where they're at, and what their matchup is,” he said. It makes them better all-around players having to always be in the right spot. Now, there's obviously tweaks and adjustments on how you guard different teams, but you can’t hide out there and you have to recognize your matchups.”

David Lee Morgan Jr was a longtime Cleveland Cavaliers beat writer for the Akron Beacon Journal. His 2003 book, The Rise of a Star: LeBron James, won him critical acclaim (American Library Association, Cleveland Magazine, School Library Journal) as an author.

Dawg Days Home