SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — They tipped it off for the first time – ever!

The Schuylkill League Basketball Coaches Association held a media conference at the Schuylkill Haven Sports Center Sunday, a venue that can rival any small college; an indoor facility that is creme de la creme. To be sure, a perfect setting for such a gathering.

There was Tamaqua boys mingling with rivals in its division. Marian boys and girls got to smile a lot, jousting with the soon to be foes. Ditto for Panther Valley, as well.

It’s a new “brand” for the league, with some old and long-standing rivals intact. No longer are Jim Thorpe and Lehighton bouncing the pumpkin in the league, moving to the Colonial League. The Olympians’ 40-plus year affiliation was the longest tenured of the two.

Here is the format:

Division I boys — Blue Mountain, Mahanoy Area, Minersville, North Schuylkill, Panther Valley, Pine Grove, Pottsville, Tamaqua;

Division II boys — Lourdes, Marian, Nativity, Schuylkill Haven, Shenandoah Valley, Tri-Valley, Weatherly, Williams Valley;

Division I girls — Blue Mountain, Minersville, North Schuylkill, Panther Valley, Pine Grove, Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven, Tamaqua;

Division II girls — Lourdes, Mahanoy Area, Marian, Nativity, Shenandoah Valley, Tri-Valley, Weatherly, Williams Valley’

One will notice that originals and founding schools are taking different paths, based on enrollments and other factors.

Mahanoy Area, the defending league kingpins, bumps up to Division I, along with Panther Valley, two of the mainstays since the 1960s. This division allows for 14 games, away and home, for both the boys and the girls. The small school division houses seven as well.

Mahanoy Area’s girls remain in the small school. Schuylkill Haven’s girls, on the other hand, reside in the large school, with the boys in the small school division.

“This was a great idea to let the kids meet each other and get a feel for the coming season,” said Pat Crampsie, the long-time coach at Panther Valley.

The idea to bring the teams together was formulated by two coaches: North Schuylkill’s Will Bracey and Shenandoah Valley’s Josh Dombrosky. It was a take-off modeled by the Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association, a highly successful and anticipated Media Day that has been going on nearly 35 years.

“(Josh) and myself were talking throughout the summer about doing something like this and we got it going,” Bracey explained. “We wanted to get more buzz for the season and get these athletes recognized. This allows the players, both girls and boys, to meet each other.”

Not that they haven’t in the past on the floor, and some off the floor.

“We know each other from summer (ball), travel ball, so we’re all quite familiar with each other,” said Olivia Serfass, the highly recognized standout from Marian who is looking to lead her team this winter.

The new-look will provide for some interesting games this winter. Tamaqua girls will be one of the front-runners with a plethora of returnees for coach Erika Davis. Marian will also be a contender for the girls title, as well.

Tamaqua boys coach Jimmy Barron was liking the event, too.

“It’s a great thing, something that was long-over due for the league and the kids,” Barron pointed out. “This gives the kids exposure, and it’s something that the league has never done before. It gives the (players) recognition (before) the season starts.”

With this past Friday the first official day of winter sports practices, basketball teams will tip-off for the first time when games begin Nov. 29.

“I know the (football) has its media day, so this is something that is a good thing for the basketball league,” said Marian boys coach Scott Murphy. “It gets everyone excited, and being in the same place with all the teams is what this is all about.”

Fillies’ coach Damian Fritz has a loaded team returning and thinks the media day puts the high school players in line with what is done at the higher levels. There are a number of returning starters that will take to the court for the Fillies. Fritz doesn’t shy away from being pegged as the team to beat, though North Schuylkill has been the power and will have a lot to say as the season weaves into January.

“This is a great idea,” Fritz said, “to have all the players and coaches together, this is a great environment. We know how good the teams are that we will face, and Williams Valley is a team that a lot are saying will be good. They’re in our division, and we get to play them twice. It will be a fun season, and we’re looking forward to get things going.”

Tamaqua senior guard Cooper Ansbach found it to be a neat thing to be a part of the first-ever media day for the basketball players.

“This is pretty cool to be around all the players in the league, players we will be playing against when the season gets going,” Ansbach mentioned, and said getting off to a fast start will be a key to the success of the season.

The Schuylkill League has gone through a series of mergers and alignments. In 1982, the old Anthracite League merged into the Schuylkill League, and in 1982 there were six divisions. Then a split occurred again in 1984 and until 1997, with a wild card creating a four-team playoff. There were four divisions in the winter of 1997 until 2008, when Mount Carmel and Shamokin both exited and headed for the Heartland Conference. Thus three divisions came about based on school location, and a big-school and two small school divisions.

That enabled the league to expand its playoffs to six teams, but not without issues and controversy, with tiebreakers needed to decide the final qualifiers.

“This is an awesome place, and to bring everyone here is a great thing for (the league), the players and the coaches,” is the way Bracey summed things up for the league’s initial basketball media day.