Plymouth Magazine-Fall24-DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 4
The exception to the sub-par facilities
was the former First Christian Church
Disciples of Christ at 25th and University.
Several stories tall, the building has a
gym on the fifth floor with an actual
basketball court with bleachers, recalls
Mary O’Brien, who grew up at First
Christian and watched her brothers
playing in the 1970s.
In the years when Spooner and O’Brien
were coaching, most games were played
at the Grubb YMCA, 1611 11th St. (the
former Dowling Catholic all-boys school).
Plymouth member Greg Kenyon
coached the Pebbles and Rocks for
a total of 15 years, and may win the
prize for the longest serving Plymouth
basketball coach. Kenyon volunteered
to coach in 1983 before he and his wife,
Pam, even had kids of their own. Kenyon
had recently joined the church and was
recruited to fill a last-minute coaching
vacancy. “I had checked a box on a new
member form expressing an interest
in youth sports and, voila, I started
coaching,” says Kenyon.
At that time Plymouth competed
in a Westside Church League with
Westminster Presbyterian, First Assembly
of God, Urbandale Methodist, Grace
Methodist, First Federated Open
Bible, BJL (affiliated with the Jewish
synagogue,) First Baptist, Berean
Assembly, Meredith Drive Reformed,
and Vally Free, Kenyon recalls.
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The Pebbles was co-ed for a few years
under Kenyon’s leadership. “Jenny
Knaack Esbeck, Alissa Ashby, Jenny
Baker, and my daughter Samantha all
played,” he says.
Spooner coached with Rick Long from
2010 to 2012 and then with O’Brien
until 2017. Sunday afternoon practices
at the Plymouth gym started with a
few drills, running some plays, and
scrimmaging for a couple hours, he
recalls. The coaches often brought treats
to practice and games to encourage the
kids to hang out afterwards. Camaraderie
was always an important part of the
program, the coaches agree.
The Rocks offered a way for Spooner’s
son, Jack, to get involved in Plymouth
youth activities other than Matins.
“It was a different outlet for kids who
weren’t interested in Matins. Jack had a
number of good buddies from Roosevelt
who enjoyed playing together and they
joined the Rocks.”
Spooner recalls some of the toughest
games were with a Catholic team made
up of Dowling football players. “These
were big guys,” Spooner says. “We looked
kind of scrawny next to them, but our
guys never backed down. It got a little
dicey once in a while, but it was good
Christian fun. If the boys lost a game,
they might be mad for a while, but they
quickly got over it. This was supposed to
be for fun, and it was.”
When Kenyon was coaching, the team
employed a somewhat novel play called
the “barking dog.” When a player
was in-bounding the ball, a teammate
would drop to his (or her) knees and
start barking. That created enough of a
distraction to allow for an easy throw in.
“One of the kids saw that play on ESPN
and thought we should give it a try,”
Kenyon remembers.
With the fun came many Plymouth
championships in the seeded tournaments
that closed each season. Trophies and
articles in the Bulletin confirm Plymouth
took the title in 1966, 1969, 1973,
1979, 1982, 2013, although there were
undoubtedly many more wins.
Plymouth stopped participating in the
league in 2017, although Spooner and
O’Brien tried to keep the Rocks playing.
“Eventually, after our sons had graduated,
interest from within Plymouth’s youth
community waned, but we began to
attract many kids from outside the
church,” O’Brien says. “Most of the team
was from immigrant families interested in
playing basketball, many being Muslim.
“It was a great learning experience for me
to interact with youth of different faiths
and backgrounds, and a great reminder that
we are more similar than we are different
despite differing religious beliefs. It was
rewarding to see youth of the Islamic faith
integrated into a predominantly Christian
and Catholic league,” O’Brien adds.
