AUBURN #- Dating back more than 50 years, CYO basketball has been a long standing tradition within Auburn youth sports.

CYO president Scott Emerson said it's the broad base the program - which also offers cheerleading - offers that has contributed to its longevity.

“We try to offer something for every level of player,” Emerson said. “From second grade up to high school and including the cheerleaders. We have instructional teams for the younger players who are just getting started. We have teams with boys and girls. It is all made up of players from the local parishes and I think they all take a certain pride in playing for their parish. I think that is really what has helped keep this around for so long.”

Emerson said that annually from the instructional level up, there are nearly 300 participants from all over Cayuga County who join the program, many of whom stick with the program all the way through high school.

“It teaches skills and discipline and sportsmanship,” Emerson said. “But the kids also get to meet new friends and have fun competing with each other. We try to make it as fun a league as possible.”

This dedication to the program carries on with many coaches, such as John Montgomery, who played CYO hoops as a child and now coaches the high school level Celtics.

“It was a lot of fun to be able to play growing up,” Montgomery said. “And my own kids have been in the program and I coached them when they were younger and I moved up with them as they progressed through the program. From the parents to the players to the coaches there is a lot of camaraderie here. That is something that I think was always there when I was playing and continues to this very day.”

There was a time within the last six or seven years when the program cut off after the eighth-grade level.

The institution of the high school program for grades ninth through 12th, has helped pump a lot of new blood and enthusiasm into the program in the past few years.

“The high school program has been very well received,” Emerson said. “We have a lot of dedicated players who grew up in this program and having the opportunity to play after eighth grade has allowed a lot of them to be able to keep playing and keep growing as players.”

The eight-team division has anywhere between 80 and 100 players annually and works with a draft system where the last-place team gets first pick of new players entering the program, to help keep things well matched from team to team.

“This has been a great opportunity for kids that want to keep playing,” Montgomery said. “For the kids who didn't make the high school team, this lets them keep on playing and it helps them develop and grow and just keep playing and enjoy the game.”

For Montgomery, who grew up and saw his own children grow up through CYO; this has been a unique perspective to see other kids do the same.

“It is amazing to see,” Montgomery said. “You see them start when they are just in second or third grade and you see them grow into young men and develop and grow up and you realize that you have helped and been coaching them. It is a big change to see and it is great to be able to be a part of that.”

No matter what level they are playing at, many of the principles that CYO focuses on are the same for all age groups and levels of players.

“Once the season really starts we don't have too many practices,” Montgomery said. “We get the kids together and we might work out some plays and what we are going to try to do. But once we get started the focus is really on having fun at the games every weekend and just getting out and playing. It is really good competition, on any given night any team could beat any other team. The teams are really strong and we just try to focus on making sure the kids have fun.”