(February 20, 2002) — From outside the second gym at the Glendale YMCA, one can hear the bouncing of basketballs, the shuffling of sneakers across the floor and the yelling and cheers of a basketball game. Walking inside, you see two dozen pint-sized Shaquille O’Neils, most of them appropriately clad head to toe in authentic Lakers gear, split in groups, playing on the two halves of the court. As more children pile onto the court, the practice officially begins. On one side, the mini-ballers are running laps to warm up; on the other side, they are standing at one corner of the court, patiently waiting their turn to shoot a lay-up. The first one grabs the ball, runs ahead and jumps to make a shot, but misses. Their coach, Clark senior Aram Shadanyan, takes up the ball and shows them how it’s done. After that, the group that calls themselves the “Bruins” starts to successfully execute the shots. Like Shadanyan, three of Clark’s students spend their Friday afternoons coaching younger members of the community in basketball. With practices once a week and a game every Saturday morning at 9 a.m., they train the children for the playoffs at the end of the season. The two teams that practice on Fridays are the Bruins, led by Shadanyan and Hoover senior Michael Yeganyan, and the Gators, led by Clark seniors Nelson Gevorkian and Andre Bonadi. Shadanyan, who has been coaching for two seasons, alongsideYeganyan, says that it has been two weeks into the new season and the players are already developing their skills. Most of the players say they have made friends with their teammates. This has led to improvements in teamwork among the players, according to Bonadi. Ten-year-old Allen Terzakarian, who has been playing with the Gators for four years, says, “I think that [my teammates] can do their best and try hard and practice a lot.” The children say they really enjoy working with their coaches to improve their skills. “They teach me a lot of stuff that I didn’t learn last year,” says Terzakarian. Nine-year-old Alan Abkar says his coaches have shown him how to improve on different aspects of basketball, such as defensive playing and executing jump shots. Parents are also very supportive of their children playing with the teams. In fact, during practices and games, many parents sit on the sidelines, cheering for their children. Sandra, mother of Jadher, who plays with the Bruins, says that she attends every one of the practices and that her husband attends the games to support their son. She says she notices a lot of improvements in Jadher’s skills and is happy that he can “get involved with older kids” and be in a diverse environment. “It’s gratifying to give your knowledge to little kids,” explains Shadanyan. Gevorkian says he likes it for other reasons. “It makes me feel good when they get happy at a shot,” he offers.