SHYBA Travel Program History & Accomplishments

The SHYBA Travel Program started around 1996, with only two or three teams competing in the Suburban Basketball League (founded and administered by Bob Becker) for the first few seasons.  During those early years, there was minimal interest within the Souderton District, so some of the coaches often recruited players from outside of the local community in order to field teams.

In 1999, Bob Metz became the first Travel Coordinator and was responsible for formalizing practice time and procuring equipment for the teams.  Under his direction, SHYBA Travel became much more organized and competitive.   Many of the key rules regarding Travel basketball (allowing only players who live within the Souderton Area School District, no “playing up” in terms of age, etc.) were set in place under Bob’s guidance.

Bob Conroy succeeded Bob Metz in 2003 and served as Travel Coordinator through 2005.  He was followed by John Kennedy, who served in the lead Travel role for the next seven seasons.  Under Bob and John’s direction, the Travel Program continued to flourish.  SHYBA consistently entered at least six teams into the Travel league; three for the Boys and three for the Girls, at the 11, 12 and 13-year old levels.   Four of the six teams that have captured Travel League Championships came during their tenure as Coordinator.  During this time, the Travel Program also became responsible for their own budget, running annual fundraisers to help offset expenses.

In 2008, the Suburban Basketball League folded and was replaced by the Inter-County Basketball Association (ICBA), founded and run by Warren Blatt and Jose Gomez.

SHYBA Travel Coordinators.

  • 1999-2003:   Bob Metz
  •  2003-2005:   Bob Conroy 
  • 2005- 2012:  John Kennedy   
  • 2012- 2019:  Pete Messner 
  • 2019 - current:  John Kearns
Year Team CoachesNotes
2001B13 “A” Division Champions
Larry Hill John Kennedy
Many of the players on this team contributed to Souderton High School’s League Championship team in 2005 Notable mention:  Robbie Pines, who starred at Souderton HS, went on to play for East Stroudsburg University.  Mike Kennedy, was first-team All-Conference at Souderton HS.  Mike Connolly played for Kutztown
2003Boys 12 “A” Division Champions
Dave Werth Lou Franklin Bill Hoffman
Many players on this team contributed to Souderton High School’s League Championship teams in 2006 and 2007. Notable mention: Ronnie Benson played for Bloomsburg University.  Jim Connolly played for Philadelphia University.  Jim Mower played for Lafayette.  Dan Werth played for Eastern College.
2003Girls 13 “B” Division Champions
Rich Allen

2004 2005 2006
Girls 12 and 13 “A” Division Champions
Pete Messner Jory Nelson
This team also made it to the 2004 “A” Division Championship Game at the 11-year old level, losing in overtime. They compiled an 8-1 mark during their three years in the Playoffs.  Eight of the girls from this team played High School Varsity basketball.  Brittany Sandone went on to play for Cabrini College, scoring 1366 career points and was named Conference Player of the Year her Senior season.  Jessica Bard played for Suffolk University.  Emily Price and Dara Nelson played for Gwynedd Mercy College, but both careers were cut short by injury.  
2014 2016
Boys 11 “B” Division Champions
Tom Doughty Neal Ehrlich Cory Derstein Joel Bish
This team compiled a 15-0 mark during the ICBA Season, and ended the year with an overall record of 25-4.
2014 2016
Girls 13 “B” Division Champions
Henry Rodrique Jay Kramer
playoffs 14-0.  Warrington Warwick Warm-up Champions.  ICBA King of the Court Champions
2017Boys 11 Division 3 Champions
Ed Blair Kevin O’Leary Tom Zimmerman
The 11U SHYBA Wolverines won their ICBA division championship with a final League record of 13-2 and an overall season record of 22-4
2017Girls 13 Division 2 Champions
Dave Werth Rich Allen J.R. Passarella
The girls compiled a 14-1 ICBA record in their final Travel season together, defeating Boyertown 31-26 in the League Championship game.
2018Boys 10 Division 2 ChampionsDave Werth
2021Girls 10 Division 2 ChampionsRob EspositoThe 10U girls SHYBA Devils finished their ICBA regular season in first place at 7-1 and also won their division championship, finishing the season overall with a record of 9-1. As the ICBA basketball league is a qualifier league for the Middle School State Championship tournament that takes place at Penn State University, the Devils were invited to participate in this year's tournament. After a slow start at Penn State, the girls battled back, fueled by a late comeback in the semi-final game in which they overcame a five point deficit with about a minute to play by hitting two clutch three pointers to win the game by one point. Their run would come up a bit short as they fell in the championship game by one point. 
2021Boys 10 Division 2 ChampionsEd Blair The 10U SHYBA Wolverines won their ICBA division championship with a final League record of 10-1 and an overall season record of 13-1. They were CES Winter Freeze tournament champions. The wolverines came together quickly as a first-year team and worked hard to have a successful first season!
2021Girls 11 Division 1 ChampionsMatt HerronThe SHYBA 11U Girls completed their undefeated season in the Division 1 ICBA League with a 29-18 victory over Pennsbury.  A perfect 10-0 record outscoring their opponents a combined 341-176.  Other highlights of this amazing season-  1st place in the CES MLK Day Showcase, 1st Place in the CES Presidents Day Showcase, 2nd place in the Jr 76ers AAU Winter League, and Gold Division 3rd Place in the  PA State Championship Tournament at Penn State University.  Overall record for the 2020-2021 season was 30-8.  GO BULLDOGS!!
2021Boys 12 Division 2 ChampionsSteve ShafferThe team went 8-0 during the regular season. 3-0 in the post season to win the ICBA championship for Division 2. We competed at the PA State Basketball Championship where we placed 2nd in our age group. Our overall record for the season (including the tournament) was 14-1. 
2022Girls 10 Division 3 ChampionsJeffrey ZweibackThe 10U Girls finished their season in first place with a win in the championship to a tough opponent who had beaten them previously.  
 2022Boys 12 Division 3 ChampionsCraig RollersonThe 12 U Boys finished their season in first place with a dominant win over WWBL.  The Boys 12 Team only lost one game throughout the regular season and had a great showing in various tournaments.