It’s a new year, but a 50-plus year tradition was able to return to the Riverbank High campus this past weekend, and will continue for five more weeks.

The Riverbank Youth Basketball Clinic was back after being canceled last year by COVID concerns. It celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020, just before the pandemic hit, so this year is the 51st for the clinic.

Organized and staffed by Riverbank High School basketball coaches and teams, both boys and girls, the clinic is open to boys and girls in the community.

The clinic began last week, on Saturday, Jan. 8, at courts in the Ray Fauria Memorial Gymnasium. It includes practice sessions, mentored by the RHS players and coaches, where the participating youngsters work on ball handling, passing, dribbling, and shooting. The clinic portion of the program will continue this Saturday, Jan. 15, with scrimmage games scheduled for the four Saturdays after that, into February.

Sessions for basketball are divided up by age group, with first and second graders playing from 9:15 a.m. to 10 a.m., and third and fourth graders from 10:15 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Both fifth and sixth graders and seventh and eighth graders will work out from 11:15 a.m. to noon.

The snack bar at the gym is open during the clinic, staffed by the Bruin Boosters organization, for parents and friends watching the clinics who are hungry or thirsty.