NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The North Adams Youth Basketball League held a drive-through trophy ceremony Sunday.

 

"The league felt it important to let the kids know we didn't forget them," league organizer Mark Moulton said. "We always want to acknowledge all the kids' hard work and dedication with a large pizza party. Unfortunately, not having a place to so,  we wanted to make sure all the championship teams got their deserved trophies."

 

Because of the pandemic, the NAYBL was unable to meet in person to hold its annual banquet and trophy ceremony for the 2020/2021 season. The pandemic also impacted this season, and the league has been able to go forward because of complications over the Armory and COVID-19 restrictions. 

 

So between 12 and 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon, league organizers set up in the Armory Parking Lot to hand out 60 trophies.

 

"Just to have the girls come back and, we want them to know how important it was and how well they did over the course of the year," girls coach Kelsey Ouimet said. "It is nice to see some of the players and some familiar faces."

 

Actually getting the trophies was not as easy as it has been in past years, and the distributor the league had historically worked with had gone of business.

 

Luckily Randall Trophies, out of Pittsfield, came through.

 

"We were able to use Randall Trophies," Moulton said. "As the season ended,  everything shut down.  We couldn't get anything and couldn't get together either. Randall made it very easy to get all we needed in a very timely fashion."

 

As for this season, Moulton was not anticipating anything happening immediately. He said NAYBL may try to organize a season of some kind once the weather gets nicer.

 

"It was always fun to see the kids every Saturday having fun and learning the game," he said. "Watching them progress in the sport, as well as the teamwork and sportsmanship, make it all worthwhile. Looking forward to their smiles again."