LEAGUE FILLS VOID, BUILDS COMMUNITY By Esme Krais
- Esme Krais
- Aug 15
- 5 min read
SOMA Hoops draws local youth to the court
On any Saturday during the winter, South Orange Middle School’s gym is filled with the sounds of sneakers squeaking on the wood floor, basketballs bouncing as kids dribble them on the court and fans cheering when athletes make good plays.
Since 2023, SOMA Hoops has given youth a place to play recreational basketball in a fun, non-competitive environment.
“The energy is palpable. The positivity is unbelievable,” says Taylor Valentine, the founder and director of SOMA Hoops. “Hopefully, you see a lot of high fives.”
SOMA Hoops runs on this energy and enthusiasm, which is why kids keep coming back. In its first year, the group had 340 kids from second to eighth grade and grew to about 700 kids from first to 10th grade in its second year. As SOMA Hoops approaches its third year, the goal is to serve 1,000 players out of the 7,200 students in the district.
Although Maplewood and South Orange had recreational leagues for other sports, for basketball, “there were clinics and classes and travel teams. There was not a recreational level league,” says Matt Gray, director of recreation and cultural affairs for South Orange.
“In a town that doesn’t have an ice rink, in a town that doesn’t have an indoor pool … there was a void for sports in the winter,” says Valentine.
As kids get older, sports become more competitive, often pushing out those who are less skilled. Valentine says, “It shouldn’t be up and out in youth sports. It should be play as long as you want, because this is a game you can play as long as you want.”
As someone who grew up playing basketball and has coached numerous teams, Valentine knew how much fun the game could be. But it wasn’t until 20 years after he stopped coaching, when his daughter was in third grade, that he found there were no local recreational basketball leagues for her to join.
Many other parents saw the same void. Lizzie Wolff, a SOMA Hoops parent, coach and volunteer in charge of marketing and communications, says, “I had noticed the lack of a rec league in our town because I grew up playing in a rec basketball league.” For many parents, this meant that their kids would be missing out on the community, lessons and experiences that they had while playing.
Valentine and other parents wanted their kids to play basketball in a supportive environment, which is why he approached Gray. Through their partnership, the department handled signups, found gym space and provided equipment and uniforms.
“Our goal isn’t to win a championship in this league,” Valentine says. “Our goal is to … build great human beings and to give them a fun experience that makes them want to come back and do this and feel like they can.”
Maddie Stein, age 11, says, “I love SOMA Hoops because it is a fun and playful environment, and I like that I can play my hardest while also having a really fun time.”
Valentine knows how impactful SOMA Hoops has been and can recount story after story. One example is Courtney Bryant, a mom who was looking for a place for her middle school daughter to play basketball. “Last year, she launched our seventh and eighth grade girls program,” says Valentine. “Her daughter got involved, started playing apprehensively, and today you can’t get her off the basketball court.”
SOMA Hoops has allowed kids to form their own community. As Gray says, “It’s just about coming together with your friends in an organized way that there’s no real expectation beyond coming, playing, having fun and then going to get pizza afterwards with the same kids you go to school with.”
Besides organizing a recreational league, SOMA Hoops has also established SOMA Basketball Boosters. This nonprofit arm supports various causes in the community, including providing basketball equipment to local schools that didn’t have any. Valentine and other parents raised funds for basketballs, cones and rebounders for Clinton Elementary School so kids could learn to play the game.
The Boosters has also launched a peer-to-peer program. Current middle school girls advise fifth-grade girls on navigating the social, emotional and academic transition to middle school. The program allows the older girls to be leaders and inspires the younger ones to do the same. Valentine recalls his fifth-grade daughter saying, “I want to be on that panel. I want to tell the fifth graders what middle school is all about when I’m done with my first year.”
This past year, the Boosters awarded a referee scholarship to a kid who represents the program’s mission of creating a better community. The first one was given to graduating Columbia High School senior Ari Wasserman for his contributions on and off the court. He spent the last two years refereeing for SOMA Hoops and is also an athlete, camp counselor and creator of a short film.
SOMA Hoops requires many volunteers to run smoothly. This year, the program had 170 coaches and 240 volunteers. Anyone over the age of 13 can volunteer, with opportunities including setting up and taking down the gym, helping with fundraising and coordinating events.
Given the positive response and the growing number of players, SOMA Hoops has clearly tapped into a community need. However, that growth does not come without its challenges. “The goal … [is] to serve every child in SOMA, grades one through 12, [who] wants to play recreational basketball,” says Gray. “The challenge is gym space.” The recent renovation of the Baird Center has helped and SOMA Hoops also uses the South Orange Middle School court. But the program could outgrow the capacity.
Still, the leaders of SOMA Hoops remain committed to their goal. They want to make basketball accessible so that every kid, regardless of ability or experience, has a place where they can play the sport, be a part of a community and feel like they belong.
Registration opens on September 22. To get reminders, visit somahoops.com and click the pre-register button.
Although Esme Krais, a rising junior at Columbia High School, doesn’t play basketball herself, she enjoys writing stories about it.