Entering its eighth year in existence, the Intramural Basketball Program at Big Park Community School is bigger than ever, with more than 60 kids participating and learning how to play the game.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the program is the people who run it.

Although Amy Parrella, the girls basketball head coach for the Coyotes, oversees the league, it is the older kids who make the league go.

The Intramural Basketball Program is for young players in grades three through five, while eighth-graders run the concession stand, do the score clock, set up the gymnasium, referee the games and even coach.

“The kids do everything. It’s so fun to watch the younger kids not only learn the game but watch the older kids teach it to them,” Parrella said.

Parrella started the program eight years ago, but only three years ago did she get the idea to use kids that play for Big Park on the “A” team to run it.

Annie Parrella, Amy Parrella’s daughter, is a 14-year-old eighth-grader at Big Park this year and one of the better players for the Coyotes this season.

Every day after school before her own practice, Annie Parrella gets her own team together to practice from 2:30 to 3:15 p.m. Parrella played for three years in this league, and has now coached, refereed and helped run the snack shack for two years.

“I think the hardest thing is to referee,” Parrella said with a big smile. “It’s difficult to get all the calls, especially your first time.”

Other coaches include Garrison Skornik, Neil Smith, Jessica Kirkham, Randy Rodriguez, Alec Davidson and Chas Rescigno.

For 45 minutes every day starting at the beginning of November, kids learn the basic fundamentals of basketball including dribbling, passing and shooting.

They begin to learn the rules, and it’s a no-pressure environment, giving the young future stars a chance to grow.

Once school comes back from Christmas break in early January, the older kids get to draft players for their respective teams and play games every Friday for six weeks.

“It’s so funny to watch; it’s a riot. They pick the teams and then they go play games. I think the older kids get a lot out of it,” Amy Parrella said.

Through two weeks of play, the Ninjas and the Suns are a perfect 2-0 while Swish is 1-0 and the Maniacs are 1-1. Other teams include the Crusaders [0-2], Team Aitken [0-2] and Chaos [0-1], which is Annie Parrella’s team.

“I’ve learned that it isn’t so easy being a coach, or a teacher for that matter. It’s helped me learn a lot of things besides just basketball,” Annie Parrella said.