‘Community Building Community’: Jackals, Maple Grove Players Host Basketball Clinic
The Jamestown Jackals hosted a youth basketball clinic at Maple Grove attended by dozens of aspiring basketball players. Kayla Crosby, Integrity First executive director and owner of the Jamestown Jackals, said in a Facebook post that players had a blast teaching skills, running drills, and sharing the love of the game with young players. Assisting the Jackals and mentoring the younger basketball players were some of the Maple Grove varsity basketball team and their family members.
“How do you build a stronger community? By bringing the community together. Thank you to all the young dragons, Dragon varsity players, Dragon families, and the Jamestown Jackals for such a great youth clinic at Maple Grove this weekend,” said Crosby. “This is a community building community.”
The Jamestown Jackals were founded by Crosby in 2015 and joined the minor professional Premier Basketball League (PBL) for the 2016 season. After the 2017 season, the PBL shuttered operations and the Jackals then played the 2018 season in the semi-professional North American Basketball League (NABL) as part of a new Northeast Division. The Jackals won the division title in April 2018 to advance to the league championship, where the team fell to the Dallas Mustangs. However, in 2018 The Basketball League (TBL) made a public announcement that the vaunted Jamestown Jackals would join its league, on Aug. 29, 2018, for the 2019 season. However, for the upcoming 2025 season, the Jackals and the Toledo, Ohio, Glass City Wranglers, were announced as expansion teams that were added to the Super Basketball league (SBL.) rosters. Currently, the SBL consists of nine teams, two of which are based in the United States and the other seven in Canada.