Elementary tourney set to begin today

Every athlete starts somewhere, and for many of the city?s premier basketball players, that launching pad came at the annual Lynn Elementary School Basketball Tournament, which gets underway today in the Sisson school gym.Perhaps it?s an exaggeration to say all roads lead through the Lynn tournament, but a quick look at some of the city?s premier high school players, past and present, reveals quite a few who represented their elementary schools during the mini version of March Madness.The English High girls team, which went 25-1 and made it to the state semifinal game at TD Garden, features alumni like Diondra Woumn, Catherine Stinson and Devinya Robinson, to name a few. The St. Mary?s girls basketball team, which will play for a state title this weekend in Worcester, has an alum in Brianna Rudolph (31 points in the semifinal at the Garden).Then there are players like Jasper Grassa, who just finished up a great college basketball career at Bentley University, and his younger brother, Nick Grassa, who currently plays for Salem State University. Tech?s Antonio Anderson had a memorable career at Memphis. Helen Ridley played Division 1 basketball at Quinnipiac University and is now an assistant coach in the Classical High girls program and English?s Jarell Byrd had a standout season at the University of West Alabama. Ryan Woumn, also a former English star, is now playing at Merrimack College. The list goes on and on.Sean Morris, a teacher at Sewell-Anderson Elementary School, has been running the tournament for the past four years. He took it over from his father, retired Sisson principal John Morris, who inherited it from Jack Gaudet and Robert Thomson.Morris said what makes the tournament so much fun is the crowds the games draw, with teachers, parents and friends all jamming the bleachers to cheer on their teams. This year there will be 17 schools, with the Washington School back in the mix after an absence. Washington, which was reopened as an elementary school, now goes up to the fourth grade with a fifth grade in the works for next year.This year will also feature the addition of boys and girls all-star games, which will be played the weekend following the championship games. Morris said games will pit East Lynn against West Lynn.?We love it,” Morris said, referring to all the people who run the tournament. “And the kids love it even more.”Morris said for some young players, the elementary tournament is just the start of a basketball career. Others never play beyond elementary school, which makes the memory even more special.The teams are made up primarily of fourth and fifth graders, with an occasional third grader pressed into action. Several hundred youngsters will participate this year.Play begins today with four boys games. Ford will face Ingalls at 3 p.m.; Hood vs. Shoemaker at 4 p.m.; Brickett vs. Callahan at 5 p.m. and Drewicz will play Tracy at 6 p.m.On Thursday, the girls spring into action. Ingalls plays Connery at 3 p.m.; Callahan vs. Shoemaker at 4 p.m.; Lincoln-Thomson plays Lynn Woods at 5 p.m. and Tracy plays Drewicz at 6 p.m.On Friday, the Cobbet girls play Harrington at 3 p.m.; Brickett plays Sisson at 4 p.m.; Washington plays Lincoln-Thomson at 5 p.m. and Sewell-Anderson plays Aborn at 6 p.m.The games continue Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Action resumes the following weekend.