The start of the New Year brought the beginning of a six-week Youth Basketball Clinic to the courts of the Ray Fauria Memorial Gymnasium on the Riverbank High School campus this past weekend.

The first of two sessions of clinic instruction kicked off Saturday, Jan. 6 and will be followed by another this coming Saturday, Jan. 13. They will be followed by four weeks of intramural games, running each Saturday through Feb. 10.

The clinics are sponsored by Bruin Boosters and the RHS coaching staff, with present and past Bruin basketball players assisting in coaching and training the members of the youth teams.

The early Saturday activities came the morning after a late Bruin varsity boys basketball victory over Ripon Christian High School in the second game of the new TVL season, the first here at home.

All games are scheduled to be played between 9 a.m. and noon. On clinic days, first and second graders will work from 9:15 to 10 a.m., and third and fourth graders between 10:15 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Officials said that the oldest group, the fifth through eighth graders, will work all at the same time, from 11:15 a.m. to noon.

When the games start, they, too, will be held at RHS between 9 a.m. and noon. Goal of the program is to introduce youngsters to the game of basketball, help them develop skills and then put those skills into use during the games.