Basketball on the rebound

By Bill Doyle | CFP Correspondent

CYC boys basketball is bouncing back after taking last season off due to the pandemic and the Diocese of Worcester hopes to add girls teams this winter as well.
Emily Pegg believes giving girls a chance to play is a slam dunk. Miss Pegg, 30, has coached boys basketball and coed volleyball for St. Mary Parish in Shrewsbury for five years.
Unfortunately, when she was a high school parishioner at St. Bernadette Parish in Northborough, the diocese didn’t offer CYC basketball for girls. She enjoyed playing basketball in middle school at St. Bernadette School and as a freshman at Notre Dame Academy, but then her playing days ended.
“If there was a girls league I would have been able to continue to play,” she said, “and I know a bunch of the kids I coach have sisters and their sisters were like, ‘Oh, this would be really fun to do with our friends too, and meet new people in the parish.’ I think it would just be good for both boys and girls to have a league.”
Timothy Messenger, director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, said the diocese tried to form a girls league a few years ago, but there wasn’t enough interest. His office is trying again and if enough girls register to form four teams, a girls league will be established. Twenty boys teams played for the diocese in 2019 before the season was canceled last year due to the pandemic.
Miss Pegg has offered to coach the boys and girls if enough girls register to form a league.
Games for high school boys will be held on Saturdays and Sundays from January through early March at St. Bernard Church of Our Lady of Providence Parish in Worcester. Team registration is due by Dec. 10 and the team registration fee is $1,400.
Ray Mattress, 51, has coached in the CYC league for St. John Parish, Worcester, for about 15 years. He’d also like to see a girls league formed.
“Girls basketball is growing,” he said. “So I think it’s a great opportunity to start it and if we have enough patience, I think it will develop over time.”
Mr. Mattress has already proven that patience can pay off. In 2019, he coached his son Domenic and his teammates to the B Division championship after they went winless three years before. 
The pandemic forced the cancellation of basketball for boys in grades 9-12 last winter and of volleyball for boys and girls in grades 7-12 the previous summer.
“I think the kids were probably very bummed out,” Miss Pegg said, “just because they used it as an outlet to gel with their friends and do something they really like to do, and I keep it very lighthearted. I’m focused on the sport and the sportsmanship, not so much the winning of the game, and I think that’s what they really enjoy. They’re there to have fun, but also to learn and be with their friends.”
The youth ministry office held some events and retreats virtually last winter, but that wasn’t possible with basketball.
“I think, generally speaking, when you don’t have opportunities like that,” Mr. Messenger said, “it’s hard because kids don’t have an outlet to plug into and they’re already dealing with virtual school and social anxiety and not having contact with other people in the same way they had been. When you don’t have outlets to deal with things, you’re going to struggle mentally, emotionally, spiritually.”
Volleyball returned outside last summer at St. Christopher Church in Worcester and St. Joseph Church in Charlton with 16 teams. When basketball returns in January, Mr. Messenger said the diocese will follow the safety policies required by the city and state at that time.
Mr. Messenger, 32, played basketball for St. Michael Church in Findlay, Ohio.
“Basketball is an easy way and a simple way for kids to get involved in the Church,” Mr. Messenger said. “Hey, we have a church league basketball team. Even if they don’t hear ‘church,’ they hear ‘basketball.’”
High school varsity basketball players aren’t eligible to play CYC ball and every team makes the playoffs.
Mr. Messenger’s office also holds retreats and brings youths white water rafting, rope climbing and zip lining.
“Once you have them in the door,” he said, “what are some simple ways you can actually talk about the faith without having some overbearing experience?”
Mr. Messenger hopes his office plants seeds that blossom into a greater interest in the Church. Miss Pegg has experienced such blossoms. She sees high school students at Mass more often after they start playing basketball or volleyball because they feel more a part of the Church.
“You enjoy being with the youth,” she said, “because I think the youth are the biggest part of the Church and I think they kind of get overlooked from time to time.”
When Miss Pegg played church volleyball, she attended Mass with her teammates and they hung out together.
“I strive to do that with every team I coach,” she said.
Her teams have fun, but they also compete. Three of her St. Mary’s volleyball teams won championships.
She’s following in the footsteps of her father, Deacon Donald Pegg, who was her volleyball coach at St. Bernadette. 
Each year, the St. John Parish basketball team attends a Mass together at midseason. Some of the players may not have attended Mass very often or not at all so Mr. Mattress is happy to have them experience it.
Mr. Mattress said after youths join his team, he sees some of them at a regular Sunday Mass for the first time.
“I don’t jam it down anybody’s throat,” Mr. Mattress said, “but I feel very strongly that there is a God and he does care about you. I think those seeds get spread.”
Before each game, the CYC teams pray together at center court. Father Jonathan Slavinskas, pastor of Our Lady of Providence Parish, attends many games.
“Without him, I don’t know if we would have a place to play,” Mr. Mattress said.
When Mr. Mattress sees former CYC players, they often greet him with a hug.
“It’s that culture of God, family and basketball all together,” he said.
Mr. Mattress was disappointed to be cut from the freshman basketball team at Holy Name High School.
“The best thing to happen to me was that it led me to CYC basketball,” he said, “and God worked through that.”
He had so much fun winning a CYC championship as a sophomore at St. Joseph Church in Worcester, he stuck with CYC basketball and never tried out for Holy Name again.
“The CYC had retreats and everything else,” he said. “It was a bigger experience beyond basketball. That’s why I’m coaching now.”
Students should contact their parish if they’re interested in playing. If their parish doesn’t have a team and they’d like to play for another parish, they should contact Mr. Messenger at tmessenger@worcesterdiocese.org. Players don’t have to be Catholic.