Local basketball, cheerleading and Dance talent on display at All-Star Weekend

ALBANY — The area’s best local and regional talent was on display this weekend at Darton State College for All-Star Weekend, a showcase of the area’s best basketball players, competitive cheerleading and dance teams from the elementary, middle school and high school levels.

“All-Star Weekend is all about the kids,”Director Ernest Brown said. “We’re serving about 400 kids this weekend. Friday was the Rising Stars All-Star Showcase, featuring some of the top players in south Georgia.”

Some of those players included familiar names, such as Herald Super 6ers Tyree Crump (Bainbridge) and Jordan Harris (Seminole County), as well as Anfernee McLemore from Worth County. On the girls side, there were local stars such as A’tyanna Gaulden (Americus-Sumter), as well as players from other parts of the state, such as Savannah, who came to entertain and display thieir skills.

Saturday morning featured the Youth Cheer & Dance Showcase, featuring the top cheer teams in the Southeast Region. One of the cheerleading teams performing was the Albany Elite Junior & Senior Tiger Paws. Coach, Otessa Robinson, is proud of the squad’s accomplishments.

“The Albany Elite Junior & Senior Tiger Paws have been in existence for about three years now,” Robinson said. Since we’ve been in existence, we’ve won nothing but first place. We recently just competed in Ocala, Fla. Not only did we win first place in both divisions, we also won Grand Champions with our senior squad, outscoring the University of Florida, so we’re really excited about that.”

Saturday afternoon featured elementary and middle school all-star games as well as the Elementary All-Star Basketball Classic and the Middle School Basketball Showcase. One of the Elementary All-Stars, fifth-grader Kadophie Green of Lincoln Elementary, said he enjoyed All-Star Weekend but has higher goals for his basketball future.

“I want to help my team win a championship,” Green said.

The night session featured boys and girls senior games, featuring the best senior players from both the public and private schools in the area, such as Albany, Monroe, Deerfield-Windsor, Sherwood Christian, Westover and Southland Academy among others. There were also players from schools as far away as Atlanta as well as some from Alabama.