Penn Valley Junior Sports Association Continues a Strong Tradition

Everyone that ever played basketball had their start somewhere. For a number of very prominent players that have come through the high school halls of Harriton and Lower Merion, that start meant playing ball in the Penn Valley Junior Sports Association (PVJSA), run by a group of giving, organized parents and coaches for the last 29 years.

The PVJSA just finished off yet another successful season, which runs from January through March for boys from third to eighth grade, Monday night in a very packed Harriton High School gym. It culminated a season that included an association that had 600 kids and 66 teams competing. Championship games were played for the juniors (third-fourth grade), seniors (fifth-sixth grade) and masters (seventh-eighth grade).

The PVJSA is a special league, an organization that could boast in the development of players like John Lucas Jr., who played for Oklahoma State and whose clutch shot beat St. Joseph’s in the 2004 NCAA Elite Eight, Duke’s Gerald Henderson, and more currently Harriton’s standout sophomore guard Matt Sherman. It’s also a league where Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown (yes, that Larry Brown, former coach of the 76ers) once roamed a PVJSA sideline.

It’s an organization that can thank the countless hours people like PVJSA commissioners Steve Rosenberg, Gregg Wallace and Adam Sherman, Matt’s father, have logged in keeping the league vibrant and running for 29 years, as well as the time commitment from referees like Marc Eisman, someone who may know the name of every player on every team, each year.

“This league has been a great part of the community,” Harriton boys’ basketball coach Jesse Rappaport said. “Within the first month I got the job here at Harriton, I met with these guys, the commissioners of the league, and we spoke about having the championship games here at Harriton. And our athletic director, Tom Ferguson, had a lot to do with this association and Harriton coming together, too. It’s been a great partnership.”

The PVJSA has kept a zero tolerance policy when it comes to parents, and it’s a competitive league, where they keep standings and the winning teams and runner-ups receive trophies. All age groups play with a regulation-sized ball, on Harriton’s regulation-sized court.

“But the biggest object is to keep it positive, keep positive reinforcement for all the kids and it’s a nice mix of talent, where we’ll have very talented players, kids like Matt Sherman when they were young, playing with kids in their team that might not be as good as them,” Rosenberg said. “It offers kids that love playing a chance to play with their friends.”

On Monday night, each championship game was very competitive, with two of the three games coming down to the last shot, and the other with a final score of 45-41.

Players came as far as Jenkintown to play in the league, “and a big point I need to make is we have 66 coaches in this league, and there’s I’d say 15 to 20 coaches who don’t have kids playing in the league--they commit their own time,” Wallace said. “A lot of kids who came through this league still like to stay connected to it.”

It’s where many stars got their start—something not easily forgotten.