BY DENNIS CHASE
TRAVERSE CITY -- One week after McBain reached the state finals in girls basketball, the boys will try to duplicate that feat today.
The Ramblers play Melvindale Academy of Business and Tech in a semifinal at 1 o'clock at Michigan State's Breslin Center. For the record, McBain's the only school that had both of its teams reach the Final Four this month.
The reason for the success? Boys coach Bruce Koopman said it's no secret.
"We run a kids' program here in the winter," he said. "We go third-fourth (grades) and fifth-sixth (grades), girls and boys. This is my 20th year at McBain. The superintendent got it going the first year I was here. I think this year for the four grades we had 187 kids involved. We call it McBain co-ed. We let our third and fourth grade boys and girls play on the same team. We have 10 teams at the third-fourth level and 10 teams at the fifth-sixth level. We divvy up the boys and girls and we play seven Saturdays in a row starting in January. We get them started pretty early."
The community gets involved, too. Parents help coach. The coaching staffs and varsity and JV boys and girls help officiate and run the clock.
"It's pretty intense," Koopman said. "I think that's been one of the keys to our success."
So if 187 kids are participating, how many students are in those four grades?
"That's just it," Koopman said. "I think almost every kid plays."
