Local youth team eyes AAU nationals

CLOVIS — Bobby Valderas says he just likes coaching youth basketball.

Valderas, currently the eighth-grade boys coach at Gattis Middle School, formed a traveling youth squad several years ago called the Clovis Kings. This year, the team is expanding its reach to play in tournaments in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Nebraska.

Valderas said the Kings, whose players range in age from 14-18, trained in 2019 and would have tried to play in tournaments the next year except for the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, he said they were able to play in a few events.

“I’ve been with some of these kids for five or six years now,” said Valderas, whose assistant coach for the Kings is Jeff Key. “The first year we didn’t really take it too serious, and last year we played in like four tournaments.”

The Kings are currently trying to raise funds to allow them to play in a national AAU tournament in July at Las Vegas, Nevada, probably competing in the 17-and-under division.

Outside of one player each from Texico, Farwell, Littlefield and Lubbock, the roster consists of Clovis players.

The Kings generally practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at Gattis. Last weekend, they competed in a tournament in Alamogordo, while next weekend they are slated to go to Hereford.

“It’s something I like doing,” Valderas said of his coaching duties. “I just like seeing how far these kids can come, and sports can help them out a lot.

“We have a lot of kids now who were playing high school basketball.”

Among them are Clovis High varsity players Andrew Hall, J.J. Jones and Jaydon Levenshown, the latter of whom is Valderas’ nephew.

This year, the team started its season during the first week in March and plans to keep going until early August. Last weekend the Kings competed in a tournament at Alamogordo, while next weekend they are slated to play at Hereford.