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SPEAKER 1:
"Strong family and community partnerships" is one of the Oregon School
District's five core values.
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Today, we are speaking with the Commissioner of Oregon Bench Mob,
a basketball league right here in Oregon that was created to offer more high
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school students an opportunity to play recreationally competitive basketball.
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SPEAKER 2:
Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast,
where it's all about the kids.
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Here is your host, lifelong educator, and our superintendent,
Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
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SPEAKER 1:
So welcome to Inside the OSD. We love talking with community partners and are
eager to learn more about this great opportunity you've created for kids in our
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community. So to kick things off, could you please share a little bit about
yourself with our listeners?
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SPEAKER 3:
Sure thing. Well, my name is John Kuehl,
and I'm an Oregon resident for about the last 12 years.
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I'm a parent of a couple of kids in the district. My wife works in the high
school as a special ed case manager.
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Um, and I still play sports at, uh, 46 years old.
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And, uh, and yes, I started Bench Mob basketball league five years ago to help
kids in high school be able to keep playing.
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Well,
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SPEAKER 4:
what was your inspiration
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SPEAKER 1:
for creating Bench Mob?
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SPEAKER 3:
Uh, I mean, it was just the need of--you saw a need.
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There's --all right. There isn't anything anymore.
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My son, uh, that season was a sophomore that was cut from the JV team.
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Um, I grew up in the area, and there used to be a league called CYO
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SPEAKER 1:
that
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SPEAKER 3:
had many teams in in the county and that--
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SPEAKER 1:
My son played in it also.
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SPEAKER 3:
Absolutely. Yeah. That's what I did in high school.
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And unfortunately that folded during Covid.
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Um, and it was just one of those things where like "someone should do something
about that." And I just decided to do something about that.
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Yeah. Um, so yeah, it came together really quickly.
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The first--I'll never forget the first night,
just hoping the kids actually showed up at the gym.
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But here we are five years later and.
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SPEAKER 1:
They're showing up at the gym. All right.
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Does the league operate with any core values or philosophies that guide you in
how you make decisions?
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SPEAKER 3:
Uh, yeah. I mean, first of all, I mean,
just the opportunity. It should be there and that's--that's the first one. Um,
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I do believe in keeping youth sports fun and a big question I'm always asking
myself when it comes to things with the league is "what would be more
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fun?" And if I can do this or that and this would be more fun,
we're going to do that.
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Uh, and then the, the other one is probably just that it's,
it's ultimately about the players,
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right? I do open the gym and throw out the basketballs and put out the website
and everything,
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but like the kids make it what it is. It wouldn't be fun if and if they weren't
having fun.
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Um, so I'm grateful for them. Yeah. Like showing up every week and making it
what it is.
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SPEAKER 1:
Well, not only are they having fun, but they're taking on in some aspects,
a leadership role,
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right? Because they're making things work for their team and they're organizing
themselves and all of those things they do.
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SPEAKER 3:
Yeah. I mean, I do have, uh, like grown adults.
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SPEAKER 1:
I'm sure you do.
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SPEAKER 3:
Each team, you know, just in case, uh, at the gym because I'm doing a lot. And
if something goes on, I need that. But, uh,
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yeah, we've got kids showing up in suits to coach their team,
uh, throwing clipboards on the ground when they're mad at their team or
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whatever. Um, but no, they organize themselves.
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They do get to play with their friends. Of course,
I add free agents to teams.
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So, you know, everyone can play, but I do think that kids playing with their
friends is a big part of what makes it great.
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And yeah, they so they organize and they communicate--sometimes poorly,
but otherwise,
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uh.
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SPEAKER 1:
It's learning though, isn't it? Yes it is.
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So, um, how has the Bench Mob grown or changed over the years?
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SPEAKER 3:
I mean, well, it's grown just in size. The first year we had seven teams and
like 60 kids,
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kids played in masks. That year was still just coming out of out of Covid.
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Uh, now we have 13 teams. Um, so we have three teams from,
from other districts,
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but otherwise about 100 kids just from Oregon. So,
um, it's gotten bigger every year.
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Um, it's become more fun every year, I hope.
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Really? That's so great. As far as like the music we play at the games or the
sound effects we play at the games or the rules we have,
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uh, at all star games just to like make things more fun.
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Um, but the core, I guess, of it is still what it is.
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Like you're out there playing with friends. You are--it is recreational,
but we keep score,
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we keep stats. So like competitive juices do flow at times.
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Um, and that that has remained.
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SPEAKER 1:
Well, that's part of it, right? Tapping into that part of young people.
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So can you walk us through the structure of the league?
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Um, who can join? How are teams formed? What does the season schedule look like?
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That kind of thing?
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SPEAKER 3:
Yeah. Um, so like I said, teams do self organize.
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Okay, so there's like a pre-registration process where they fill out a form
listing.
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SPEAKER 1:
Who do you want to be on my team? Do you want to be on my team?
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SPEAKER 3:
That kind of thing. They do that part and they submit it to me.
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And anybody who is in high school who does not play for one of the school teams
is eligible to play.
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That's my only--
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SPEAKER 1:
That's your line?
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SPEAKER 3:
Yes, exactly. Um, ostensibly it is a coed league.
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We have had a few girls play. Nice. Um,
we're about to start, though, like a full girls Bench Mob.
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Uh, after spring break, we're going to do
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SPEAKER 1:
like a
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SPEAKER 3:
four week trial run. Um, so I don't want to get too far ahead,
but that's exciting.
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But, um, and now I lost my train of thought because I'm thinking about my
daughter blowing me up like,
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like"dad, there needs to be girls. There needs to be girls." Um,
so yeah.
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SPEAKER 1:
The teams form themselves.
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SPEAKER 3:
They form themselves. And then, yeah, I mean,
I lay out the schedule we play every Sunday night at Oregon Middle School.
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It's where we've always played. Okay. Um,
all the games are at the middle school.
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Um, I do adjust the schedule at times just to like create the best matchups
because,
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you know, more than ever, we have freshmen in the league because there's just
more cuts than ever at the freshman level. So freshmen going up against seniors
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at time can just be like a tough matchup.
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SPEAKER 1:
Might not be
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SPEAKER 3:
fun, right? Right, exactly. So it's more fun if games are closer,
right.
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Um, so we play 10 to 11 games in the regular season,
and then there's a year end tournament.
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Uh, that always happens at the high school in the main gym. So.
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SPEAKER 1:
Oh, that must be exciting.
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SPEAKER 3:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a whole different vibe when you're in--in that gym.
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For sure. This year, we've had to get creative with the tournament where we're
going to be at the middle school and doing some, some different kinds of things
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just to be able to like have every team be involved.
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But but that's just a fun one day experience too.
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That's, that kind of caps the year every year.
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SPEAKER 1:
Well, for people who haven't been there,
describe the energy, the atmosphere of a Sunday night game.
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SPEAKER 3:
Yeah. Um, well, in the spirit of like "the kids make the league," the--the games
can feel different based on the age of the kids who are playing
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freshmen. They're getting rides to the gym.
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So of course there are parents there and sophomores tend to have more too.
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So there'll be more fans in the stands for the younger teams.
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Um, which is great. I mean, I'd love to have fans there.
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Um, of course some kids tell their parents "don't come." I hear that all the
time. Like "don't come to the gym." Um,
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whatever they want to do. Um, other times it will be senior teams against each
other who know each other really well.
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And you can even tell there are rivalries between some of the kids that come out
onto the court.
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Um, and there will be maybe, you know, a girlfriend or two in the stands,
but no parents.
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And those games can feel more intense. Um,
and so it's, it's a journey every night,
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Leslie, just to kind of like game to game.
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Um, uh, the commissioner will rule with an iron fist when,
when needed to keep things in line.
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Um, but overall, the atmosphere is like,
there's loud music playing, like the loudest I can play.
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What would high school kids want to hear?
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Um, and I can handle that. And so that's what we do.
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Um, even like there's always open gyms before the season start where you can
come out and kind of get used to playing.
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I can kind of get a lay of the land on the teams that way too.
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Um, and that is like, as you'd imagine,
like 100 high school kids in a gym at once playing basketball.
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SPEAKER 1:
That's a lot less boisterous. Um.
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SPEAKER 3:
And it's energizing, you know, I guess like ultimately it kind of.
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SPEAKER 1:
Is it that way. That's great.
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SPEAKER 3:
Like, yeah, sometimes you do have to keep things in line,
but they are kids.
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And, you know, I have to remind myself that like,
it's competition and sometimes things are going to go a certain way,
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but ultimately it's like, that's what I want for them.
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SPEAKER 1:
But the outlet is so important. Right? That's what I think so many of them are
missing an outlet for all of those pieces of who they are at this stage in their
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life.
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SPEAKER 3:
Yeah. And we try to, you know, rightsize it in the sense that there are no
practices.
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Like unless the teams want to organize that themselves,
there are no practices.
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There's a game on Sunday night, right? So it's not a big commitment,
you know, for kids who are super casual about it,
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but it is an outlet. Like instead of whatever else,
they might just be kind of like hanging out.
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Um, I am a, I pay attention a lot to, um,
the, I guess if you want to call it the loneliness epidemic,
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especially with young men. Yes. So getting kids out,
um, again, with friends or classmates and against friends and classmates in that
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way, I think is something that like they don't care about like at the top of
their mind.
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But I do care about that.
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SPEAKER 1:
Well, it might not be at the top of their mind,
but we know how important it is,
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right? So another caring adult in their life trying to make those things happen
for them.
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It's pretty great. So I know that each team is responsible for serving as game
referees.
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So how does that work and why is this an important part of it?
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SPEAKER 3:
How does it work? Yeah. Um, this is the first year we've tried that.
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So in the past I've hired referees, which is a huge expense.
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SPEAKER 1:
And
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SPEAKER 3:
that was--and difficult. Anyone who works in youth athletics knows it's hard to
get refs.
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So this year, because we had an odd number of teams,
ultimately it just created an easy way where every team,
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some team is going to be on a bye every week.
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Okay. And so great.
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SPEAKER 1:
They serve as
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SPEAKER 3:
refs. And ref. And most of them have never done it before.
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Most of them have complained to referees before.
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So now they get a chance to, you know, try to blow the whistle,
uh, themselves,
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which is a learning experience. And some of them are in their element.
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They love it.
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SPEAKER 4:
I can see.
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SPEAKER 3:
It has blown, you know, strongly. And they're ready to call every foul they can.
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SPEAKER 1:
And others not so much. Others might.
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SPEAKER 3:
Not. But, um, I mean, I've had to do that in adult leagues and it is a different
perspective and I think it's good.
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And um, it's hard to get the kids organized to be there.
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Um, and we struggled with that at times.
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But yeah, and, you know, we've had some issues with it,
growing pains with it.
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But I guess when you talk about like how the leak has changed,
things have evolved enough every year where I still am very involved trying to
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like work through those changes, and this is one that has kept me very involved.
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Um, this year again.
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SPEAKER 1:
Well, I can see how if the students go on to play in other,
other sports in other seasons,
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that it would give them a little more empathy for the perspective of whatever
referee is involved or whatever official is involved in that other athletic
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sport too.
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SPEAKER 3:
So that's the hope.
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SPEAKER 1:
That's a good thing. That's a good thing.
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Um, so what kind of support and feedback have you received from the community
about Bench Mob?
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SPEAKER 3:
You know, gratefully, no one's ever told me it's a bad thing.
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SPEAKER 1:
No, I can't imagine they would.
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SPEAKER 3:
A lot of positive feedback about the opportunity.
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And, um, yeah, even thinking back to the first year,
I have seen some of the kids from the first year,
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um, and tell them all the time, just like how important it was that they showed
up that first year to build,
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to build it up. And, so, you know, grateful for the players that have been
involved.
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And then financially, we've, um, I mean,
it's a, it's a situation where it costs,
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what it costs to register. It's about $65 and then they get a jersey and they
play the games and all that.
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Um, but any kid who if they just tell me I don't have that,
we, we waive--they're in.
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SPEAKER 1:
We figure
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SPEAKER 3:
it out. Community has supported us, you know,
through donation nights or I did a thing one time where I made burgers for a
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bunch of people and, you know, as like a fundraiser or whatever,
we sold t shirts kind of just like nice stuff that we needed to do to keep it
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affordable. And the community has always shown up for those kinds of things.
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SPEAKER 1:
I love.
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SPEAKER 3:
It too. Yeah.
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SPEAKER 1:
What if a community member wants to be involved in a bigger way?
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What can what can or should they do?
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SPEAKER 3:
Um, I mean, there are, though I don't volunteer it like there are volunteer
opportunities right now.
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My wife is there at the gym with me every week,
um, keeping score at the table or more recently,
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my daughter. Um, and I do pay them a little bit to,
to be there because they could be doing other things.
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There's a OHS grad who's in grad school now who has come the last few weeks to,
to film the games.
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It's the first time we've ever had that. So when people reach out,
they're like, hey, I'm looking for some way, you know, I can find the right kind
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of fit for them. Um, but I've had to realize like,
partially because of just the change in me being there to make sure things
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still, I guess, go.
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SPEAKER 4:
Well, um.
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SPEAKER 3:
I cover a lot and I'm happy to do that. Um,
and I like, I guess that as long as I can do that,
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that for other people, it's just a chance to come and enjoy themselves.
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SPEAKER 1:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Commissioner of fun.
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Yeah. So yeah, you're clearly super, super dedicated because this is taking a
lot of time.
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So thank you so much for that. Um, what is for you,
the most rewarding part about being the commissioner of benchmark.
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SPEAKER 3:
I mean, in the beginning, of course, just like my son having a chance to keep
playing. Yeah. Um,
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and to see him with his friends just, you know,
mostly having a good time.
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And we'll leave out the part where I gave my son a technical foul on his
birthday in the league as a referee.
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Um, you know, you can't have, uh, your kid taking advantage of things,
but, um,
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I do value the relationship with these kids.
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Like it is what it is. Um, it's not like I know many of them.
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Well, um, I wish they would call me commish,
but usually they call me John.
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Um, but I love having them come through the gym every Sunday night.
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And, um, the interactions with them are,
are fun.
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Um, it, I think it does make me feel young,
um, to be around them and on those open gym nights when it is me and 100 kids
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and it's just me. And, um, you know, it's it's good energy,
ultimately.
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Um, this past fall, uh, I made a new website for the league where I had been
like keeping stats and like a record book in this like Google sheet.
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Sure. Um, but I made a whole website dedicated for this.
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And now there's like a career leaderboard and the players get badges and
achievements for,
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you know, game winning shots or scoring 100 career points or playing in 40
career games.
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Um, and that's a fun outlet for me just to,
to.
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SPEAKER 4:
And for them.
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SPEAKER 3:
Yeah, yeah, no, they, they check it out and um,
my day job is in software development and,
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um, and I work for a company that makes youth sports apps now over the last
recently.
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So like, it's a, it's kind of fun to have my passion,
um, be able to like combine with work and,
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and so I get something out of that too,
like create and decide that the kids want to come to and,
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and now they can watch recordings of their games and they're on the website. And
I mean, that's just satisfying for me personally too.
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SPEAKER 1:
Thank you so much for being here. This is such an impressive program for our
community,
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for our students. I just I love it. We're all very thankful for your time and
effort.
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SPEAKER 5:
Thank you.
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SPEAKER 1:
Remember that you can find links to all episodes of inside the OSD and submit
topic ideas on our website at Oregonstate
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00:16:11,220 --> 00:16:16,060
podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
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00:16:16,260 --> 00:16:22,060
Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get
notifications on the most recent episodes.
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00:16:22,420 --> 00:16:26,900
We'll see you next time on inside the OSD where it's all about the kids.
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,160
SPEAKER 1:
"Strong family and community partnerships" is one of the Oregon School
District's five core values.
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00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:20,080
Today, we are speaking with the Commissioner of Oregon Bench Mob,
a basketball league right here in Oregon that was created to offer more high
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00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:25,040
school students an opportunity to play recreationally competitive basketball.
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00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:31,920
SPEAKER 2:
Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast,
where it's all about the kids.
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00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:37,200
Here is your host, lifelong educator, and our superintendent,
Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
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00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:48,120
SPEAKER 1:
So welcome to Inside the OSD. We love talking with community partners and are
eager to learn more about this great opportunity you've created for kids in our
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00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:53,880
community. So to kick things off, could you please share a little bit about
yourself with our listeners?
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00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:59,360
SPEAKER 3:
Sure thing. Well, my name is John Kuehl,
and I'm an Oregon resident for about the last 12 years.
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00:01:00,060 --> 00:01:05,020
I'm a parent of a couple of kids in the district. My wife works in the high
school as a special ed case manager.
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00:01:05,300 --> 00:01:10,780
Um, and I still play sports at, uh, 46 years old.
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00:01:10,780 --> 00:01:18,460
And, uh, and yes, I started Bench Mob basketball league five years ago to help
kids in high school be able to keep playing.
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00:01:18,460 --> 00:01:18,620
Well,
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00:01:18,620 --> 00:01:19,940
SPEAKER 4:
what was your inspiration
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00:01:20,220 --> 00:01:21,500
SPEAKER 1:
for creating Bench Mob?
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00:01:22,140 --> 00:01:24,460
SPEAKER 3:
Uh, I mean, it was just the need of--you saw a need.
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00:01:24,500 --> 00:01:26,860
There's --all right. There isn't anything anymore.
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00:01:26,900 --> 00:01:31,660
My son, uh, that season was a sophomore that was cut from the JV team.
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00:01:32,020 --> 00:01:36,180
Um, I grew up in the area, and there used to be a league called CYO
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00:01:36,740 --> 00:01:37,100
SPEAKER 1:
that
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00:01:37,420 --> 00:01:39,660
SPEAKER 3:
had many teams in in the county and that--
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00:01:39,700 --> 00:01:41,140
SPEAKER 1:
My son played in it also.
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00:01:41,180 --> 00:01:43,420
SPEAKER 3:
Absolutely. Yeah. That's what I did in high school.
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00:01:43,420 --> 00:01:45,380
And unfortunately that folded during Covid.
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Um, and it was just one of those things where like "someone should do something
about that." And I just decided to do something about that.
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00:01:52,380 --> 00:01:55,980
Yeah. Um, so yeah, it came together really quickly.
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00:01:55,980 --> 00:02:01,440
The first--I'll never forget the first night,
just hoping the kids actually showed up at the gym.
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00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:03,720
But here we are five years later and.
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00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:05,880
SPEAKER 1:
They're showing up at the gym. All right.
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00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:12,000
Does the league operate with any core values or philosophies that guide you in
how you make decisions?
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00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:17,720
SPEAKER 3:
Uh, yeah. I mean, first of all, I mean,
just the opportunity. It should be there and that's--that's the first one. Um,
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00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:28,360
I do believe in keeping youth sports fun and a big question I'm always asking
myself when it comes to things with the league is "what would be more
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00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,240
fun?" And if I can do this or that and this would be more fun,
we're going to do that.
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00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:37,640
Uh, and then the, the other one is probably just that it's,
it's ultimately about the players,
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00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:43,600
right? I do open the gym and throw out the basketballs and put out the website
and everything,
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00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:48,920
but like the kids make it what it is. It wouldn't be fun if and if they weren't
having fun.
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00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:53,760
Um, so I'm grateful for them. Yeah. Like showing up every week and making it
what it is.
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00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:58,900
SPEAKER 1:
Well, not only are they having fun, but they're taking on in some aspects,
a leadership role,
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00:02:58,940 --> 00:03:05,180
right? Because they're making things work for their team and they're organizing
themselves and all of those things they do.
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00:03:05,220 --> 00:03:08,140
SPEAKER 3:
Yeah. I mean, I do have, uh, like grown adults.
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00:03:08,620 --> 00:03:09,540
SPEAKER 1:
I'm sure you do.
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00:03:09,580 --> 00:03:14,780
SPEAKER 3:
Each team, you know, just in case, uh, at the gym because I'm doing a lot. And
if something goes on, I need that. But, uh,
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00:03:14,820 --> 00:03:20,540
yeah, we've got kids showing up in suits to coach their team,
uh, throwing clipboards on the ground when they're mad at their team or
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00:03:20,540 --> 00:03:23,620
whatever. Um, but no, they organize themselves.
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00:03:23,620 --> 00:03:28,100
They do get to play with their friends. Of course,
I add free agents to teams.
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00:03:28,100 --> 00:03:34,900
So, you know, everyone can play, but I do think that kids playing with their
friends is a big part of what makes it great.
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00:03:34,900 --> 00:03:39,260
And yeah, they so they organize and they communicate--sometimes poorly,
but otherwise,
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00:03:39,260 --> 00:03:39,460
uh.
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00:03:39,500 --> 00:03:41,500
SPEAKER 1:
It's learning though, isn't it? Yes it is.
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00:03:41,540 --> 00:03:45,780
So, um, how has the Bench Mob grown or changed over the years?
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00:03:47,700 --> 00:03:52,180
SPEAKER 3:
I mean, well, it's grown just in size. The first year we had seven teams and
like 60 kids,
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00:03:52,460 --> 00:03:55,920
kids played in masks. That year was still just coming out of out of Covid.
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00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:01,200
Uh, now we have 13 teams. Um, so we have three teams from,
from other districts,
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00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:05,640
but otherwise about 100 kids just from Oregon. So,
um, it's gotten bigger every year.
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00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,720
Um, it's become more fun every year, I hope.
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00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:17,120
Really? That's so great. As far as like the music we play at the games or the
sound effects we play at the games or the rules we have,
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00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:20,320
uh, at all star games just to like make things more fun.
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00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,280
Um, but the core, I guess, of it is still what it is.
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Like you're out there playing with friends. You are--it is recreational,
but we keep score,
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we keep stats. So like competitive juices do flow at times.
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Um, and that that has remained.
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SPEAKER 1:
Well, that's part of it, right? Tapping into that part of young people.
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So can you walk us through the structure of the league?
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Um, who can join? How are teams formed? What does the season schedule look like?
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00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:47,080
That kind of thing?
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SPEAKER 3:
Yeah. Um, so like I said, teams do self organize.
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00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:56,970
Okay, so there's like a pre-registration process where they fill out a form
listing.
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SPEAKER 1:
Who do you want to be on my team? Do you want to be on my team?
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00:04:59,610 --> 00:05:02,370
SPEAKER 3:
That kind of thing. They do that part and they submit it to me.
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00:05:02,370 --> 00:05:09,530
And anybody who is in high school who does not play for one of the school teams
is eligible to play.
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00:05:09,530 --> 00:05:10,410
That's my only--
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00:05:11,450 --> 00:05:12,210
SPEAKER 1:
That's your line?
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SPEAKER 3:
Yes, exactly. Um, ostensibly it is a coed league.
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We have had a few girls play. Nice. Um,
we're about to start, though, like a full girls Bench Mob.
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Uh, after spring break, we're going to do
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SPEAKER 1:
like a
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SPEAKER 3:
four week trial run. Um, so I don't want to get too far ahead,
but that's exciting.
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00:05:30,610 --> 00:05:35,890
But, um, and now I lost my train of thought because I'm thinking about my
daughter blowing me up like,
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00:05:35,930 --> 00:05:39,210
like"dad, there needs to be girls. There needs to be girls." Um,
so yeah.
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SPEAKER 1:
The teams form themselves.
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00:05:40,890 --> 00:05:45,850
SPEAKER 3:
They form themselves. And then, yeah, I mean,
I lay out the schedule we play every Sunday night at Oregon Middle School.
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It's where we've always played. Okay. Um,
all the games are at the middle school.
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Um, I do adjust the schedule at times just to like create the best matchups
because,
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you know, more than ever, we have freshmen in the league because there's just
more cuts than ever at the freshman level. So freshmen going up against seniors
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at time can just be like a tough matchup.
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SPEAKER 1:
Might not be
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00:06:05,310 --> 00:06:09,830
SPEAKER 3:
fun, right? Right, exactly. So it's more fun if games are closer,
right.
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00:06:09,870 --> 00:06:16,110
Um, so we play 10 to 11 games in the regular season,
and then there's a year end tournament.
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00:06:16,470 --> 00:06:18,830
Uh, that always happens at the high school in the main gym. So.
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SPEAKER 1:
Oh, that must be exciting.
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00:06:20,070 --> 00:06:24,950
SPEAKER 3:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a whole different vibe when you're in--in that gym.
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For sure. This year, we've had to get creative with the tournament where we're
going to be at the middle school and doing some, some different kinds of things
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00:06:30,830 --> 00:06:33,710
just to be able to like have every team be involved.
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00:06:33,710 --> 00:06:35,910
But but that's just a fun one day experience too.
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That's, that kind of caps the year every year.
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SPEAKER 1:
Well, for people who haven't been there,
describe the energy, the atmosphere of a Sunday night game.
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SPEAKER 3:
Yeah. Um, well, in the spirit of like "the kids make the league," the--the games
can feel different based on the age of the kids who are playing
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00:06:53,690 --> 00:06:56,250
freshmen. They're getting rides to the gym.
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00:06:56,250 --> 00:06:59,610
So of course there are parents there and sophomores tend to have more too.
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00:06:59,650 --> 00:07:03,370
So there'll be more fans in the stands for the younger teams.
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Um, which is great. I mean, I'd love to have fans there.
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Um, of course some kids tell their parents "don't come." I hear that all the
time. Like "don't come to the gym." Um,
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whatever they want to do. Um, other times it will be senior teams against each
other who know each other really well.
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And you can even tell there are rivalries between some of the kids that come out
onto the court.
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Um, and there will be maybe, you know, a girlfriend or two in the stands,
but no parents.
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And those games can feel more intense. Um,
and so it's, it's a journey every night,
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Leslie, just to kind of like game to game.
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Um, uh, the commissioner will rule with an iron fist when,
when needed to keep things in line.
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Um, but overall, the atmosphere is like,
there's loud music playing, like the loudest I can play.
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What would high school kids want to hear?
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Um, and I can handle that. And so that's what we do.
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Um, even like there's always open gyms before the season start where you can
come out and kind of get used to playing.
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I can kind of get a lay of the land on the teams that way too.
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00:08:00,750 --> 00:08:08,310
Um, and that is like, as you'd imagine,
like 100 high school kids in a gym at once playing basketball.
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SPEAKER 1:
That's a lot less boisterous. Um.
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00:08:10,550 --> 00:08:13,110
SPEAKER 3:
And it's energizing, you know, I guess like ultimately it kind of.
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SPEAKER 1:
Is it that way. That's great.
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SPEAKER 3:
Like, yeah, sometimes you do have to keep things in line,
but they are kids.
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And, you know, I have to remind myself that like,
it's competition and sometimes things are going to go a certain way,
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but ultimately it's like, that's what I want for them.
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SPEAKER 1:
But the outlet is so important. Right? That's what I think so many of them are
missing an outlet for all of those pieces of who they are at this stage in their
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life.
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SPEAKER 3:
Yeah. And we try to, you know, rightsize it in the sense that there are no
practices.
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Like unless the teams want to organize that themselves,
there are no practices.
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There's a game on Sunday night, right? So it's not a big commitment,
you know, for kids who are super casual about it,
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but it is an outlet. Like instead of whatever else,
they might just be kind of like hanging out.
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Um, I am a, I pay attention a lot to, um,
the, I guess if you want to call it the loneliness epidemic,
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00:09:02,930 --> 00:09:10,370
especially with young men. Yes. So getting kids out,
um, again, with friends or classmates and against friends and classmates in that
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00:09:10,370 --> 00:09:14,650
way, I think is something that like they don't care about like at the top of
their mind.
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00:09:14,650 --> 00:09:15,890
But I do care about that.
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SPEAKER 1:
Well, it might not be at the top of their mind,
but we know how important it is,
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00:09:20,090 --> 00:09:24,690
right? So another caring adult in their life trying to make those things happen
for them.
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00:09:25,050 --> 00:09:30,530
It's pretty great. So I know that each team is responsible for serving as game
referees.
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00:09:30,530 --> 00:09:33,690
So how does that work and why is this an important part of it?
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00:09:33,730 --> 00:09:37,050
SPEAKER 3:
How does it work? Yeah. Um, this is the first year we've tried that.
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00:09:37,050 --> 00:09:40,770
So in the past I've hired referees, which is a huge expense.
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SPEAKER 1:
And
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00:09:40,970 --> 00:09:46,930
SPEAKER 3:
that was--and difficult. Anyone who works in youth athletics knows it's hard to
get refs.
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00:09:46,930 --> 00:09:52,910
So this year, because we had an odd number of teams,
ultimately it just created an easy way where every team,
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00:09:53,150 --> 00:09:55,870
some team is going to be on a bye every week.
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00:09:56,110 --> 00:09:57,430
Okay. And so great.
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00:09:57,470 --> 00:09:58,070
SPEAKER 1:
They serve as
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00:09:58,070 --> 00:10:00,790
SPEAKER 3:
refs. And ref. And most of them have never done it before.
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00:10:01,350 --> 00:10:03,790
Most of them have complained to referees before.
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00:10:04,670 --> 00:10:10,070
So now they get a chance to, you know, try to blow the whistle,
uh, themselves,
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00:10:10,310 --> 00:10:13,350
which is a learning experience. And some of them are in their element.
146
00:10:14,230 --> 00:10:15,190
They love it.
147
00:10:15,190 --> 00:10:15,710
SPEAKER 4:
I can see.
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00:10:15,710 --> 00:10:19,990
SPEAKER 3:
It has blown, you know, strongly. And they're ready to call every foul they can.
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00:10:20,030 --> 00:10:21,870
SPEAKER 1:
And others not so much. Others might.
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00:10:22,230 --> 00:10:27,990
SPEAKER 3:
Not. But, um, I mean, I've had to do that in adult leagues and it is a different
perspective and I think it's good.
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00:10:28,030 --> 00:10:32,710
And um, it's hard to get the kids organized to be there.
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00:10:33,070 --> 00:10:35,990
Um, and we struggled with that at times.
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00:10:35,990 --> 00:10:40,830
But yeah, and, you know, we've had some issues with it,
growing pains with it.
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00:10:40,830 --> 00:10:50,770
But I guess when you talk about like how the leak has changed,
things have evolved enough every year where I still am very involved trying to
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00:10:50,810 --> 00:10:54,930
like work through those changes, and this is one that has kept me very involved.
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00:10:55,130 --> 00:10:56,570
Um, this year again.
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00:10:56,730 --> 00:11:03,090
SPEAKER 1:
Well, I can see how if the students go on to play in other,
other sports in other seasons,
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that it would give them a little more empathy for the perspective of whatever
referee is involved or whatever official is involved in that other athletic
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sport too.
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SPEAKER 3:
So that's the hope.
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SPEAKER 1:
That's a good thing. That's a good thing.
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Um, so what kind of support and feedback have you received from the community
about Bench Mob?
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SPEAKER 3:
You know, gratefully, no one's ever told me it's a bad thing.
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SPEAKER 1:
No, I can't imagine they would.
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SPEAKER 3:
A lot of positive feedback about the opportunity.
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And, um, yeah, even thinking back to the first year,
I have seen some of the kids from the first year,
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um, and tell them all the time, just like how important it was that they showed
up that first year to build,
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to build it up. And, so, you know, grateful for the players that have been
involved.
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And then financially, we've, um, I mean,
it's a, it's a situation where it costs,
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what it costs to register. It's about $65 and then they get a jersey and they
play the games and all that.
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Um, but any kid who if they just tell me I don't have that,
we, we waive--they're in.
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SPEAKER 1:
We figure
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SPEAKER 3:
it out. Community has supported us, you know,
through donation nights or I did a thing one time where I made burgers for a
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bunch of people and, you know, as like a fundraiser or whatever,
we sold t shirts kind of just like nice stuff that we needed to do to keep it
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affordable. And the community has always shown up for those kinds of things.
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SPEAKER 1:
I love.
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SPEAKER 3:
It too. Yeah.
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SPEAKER 1:
What if a community member wants to be involved in a bigger way?
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What can what can or should they do?
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SPEAKER 3:
Um, I mean, there are, though I don't volunteer it like there are volunteer
opportunities right now.
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My wife is there at the gym with me every week,
um, keeping score at the table or more recently,
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my daughter. Um, and I do pay them a little bit to,
to be there because they could be doing other things.
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There's a OHS grad who's in grad school now who has come the last few weeks to,
to film the games.
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It's the first time we've ever had that. So when people reach out,
they're like, hey, I'm looking for some way, you know, I can find the right kind
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of fit for them. Um, but I've had to realize like,
partially because of just the change in me being there to make sure things
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still, I guess, go.
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SPEAKER 4:
Well, um.
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SPEAKER 3:
I cover a lot and I'm happy to do that. Um,
and I like, I guess that as long as I can do that,
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that for other people, it's just a chance to come and enjoy themselves.
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SPEAKER 1:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Commissioner of fun.
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Yeah. So yeah, you're clearly super, super dedicated because this is taking a
lot of time.
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So thank you so much for that. Um, what is for you,
the most rewarding part about being the commissioner of benchmark.
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SPEAKER 3:
I mean, in the beginning, of course, just like my son having a chance to keep
playing. Yeah. Um,
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and to see him with his friends just, you know,
mostly having a good time.
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And we'll leave out the part where I gave my son a technical foul on his
birthday in the league as a referee.
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Um, you know, you can't have, uh, your kid taking advantage of things,
but, um,
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I do value the relationship with these kids.
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Like it is what it is. Um, it's not like I know many of them.
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Well, um, I wish they would call me commish,
but usually they call me John.
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Um, but I love having them come through the gym every Sunday night.
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And, um, the interactions with them are,
are fun.
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Um, it, I think it does make me feel young,
um, to be around them and on those open gym nights when it is me and 100 kids
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and it's just me. And, um, you know, it's it's good energy,
ultimately.
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Um, this past fall, uh, I made a new website for the league where I had been
like keeping stats and like a record book in this like Google sheet.
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Sure. Um, but I made a whole website dedicated for this.
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And now there's like a career leaderboard and the players get badges and
achievements for,
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you know, game winning shots or scoring 100 career points or playing in 40
career games.
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Um, and that's a fun outlet for me just to,
to.
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SPEAKER 4:
And for them.
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SPEAKER 3:
Yeah, yeah, no, they, they check it out and um,
my day job is in software development and,
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um, and I work for a company that makes youth sports apps now over the last
recently.
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So like, it's a, it's kind of fun to have my passion,
um, be able to like combine with work and,
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and so I get something out of that too,
like create and decide that the kids want to come to and,
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and now they can watch recordings of their games and they're on the website. And
I mean, that's just satisfying for me personally too.
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SPEAKER 1:
Thank you so much for being here. This is such an impressive program for our
community,
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for our students. I just I love it. We're all very thankful for your time and
effort.
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SPEAKER 5:
Thank you.
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SPEAKER 1:
Remember that you can find links to all episodes of inside the OSD and submit
topic ideas on our website at Oregonstate
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00:16:11,220 --> 00:16:16,060
podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
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00:16:16,260 --> 00:16:22,060
Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get
notifications on the most recent episodes.
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We'll see you next time on inside the OSD where it's all about the kids.
