Kids in Lawrence love playing basketball. There is something about growing up here that makes it a part of you. During fall and winter months a sizeable number of the youth population finds its way into gyms and basketball leagues like Hoopsters and Parks and Recreation.

Those two leagues seem to get the most publicity and recognition. However, there is a third league for youth hoop-heads to dribble, pass and shoot in and it has been around for more than 20 years.

The Salvation Army basketball league, which is operated similarly to its Parks and Recreation counterpart, has coed teams for kids from kindergarten through seventh- grade.

The league had 105 participants in total for the 2007 season, which wrapped up on Friday. There were two teams in its kindergarten and first- through second-grade ranks, and four teams in its third- through fifth-grade and sixth- and seventh-grade divisions.

The regular season starts at the beginning of January and lasts about two months with one week of practice and eight weeks of games, which are played every Friday at Cordley and Kennedy elementary schools.

Mike Riley, the league’s director, said the season will continue for a few of the Salvation Army teams.

“This year at the end of our season we’re also going to compete with basketball leagues in Olathe,” Riley said. “We’re going to take the two best teams from our third through fifth and sixth through seventh, and we’ll be competing against their best teams in those age divisions.”

He said the Salvation Army league is a little different than the other youth basketball organizations in town.

“Hoopsters would probably be a lot more competitive,” he admitted.

“It’s a little easier than Hoopsters,” agreed second-year Salvation Army player Damien Coffey of the sixth through seventh-grade Lakers. But he said he still enjoyed the competition, having fun with other players and playing every week.

One of the league’s perks was that it did not cost much. The price for each player to participate was $65, and there were scholarships for those who qualified that lowered the cost to $15.

Riley said he was planning to split up the teams – as Hoopsters does – to make talent more “equitable” next year. In the meantime, he hopes the kids who come through the Salvation Army league become better players and better young people.

“We hope they’re not only developing their skills as a player in a sport, but also they’re learning to discipline themselves,” he said.

“I’ve learned from my coaches,” Coffey said, “And they teach me how to do the right stuff and other things I didn’t know how to do.”

The theme Riley has chosen is character through competitve athletics.

“It’s not just about the win or loss or developing your skill as a player,” Riley said. “But also hopefully disciplines that carry on into other areas of their lives.”

This was Riley’s first year as the league’s director and he wants to see it grow.

“The one difficulty we had is that we cannot pass out information to the public schools, so it’s more difficult now than in the past to inform potential players of the league,” he said.

Nevertheless, Riley thinks growth will come as kids and parents who have participated spread the word to their friends and neighbors.

“We’ve had a pretty good response from people who have been in it in years past,” he said.

With word of mouth and a growing reputation, the Salvation Army league may provide an opportunity for more Lawrence basketball lovers to hoop it up in the future.