Ignacio Oyola’s Hoop Clinic

Igancio Oyola’s passion for basketball cannot be denied. He was a member of the 1995 WHS state championship team that was coached by Peter Grimes and last season he nearly took his own WHS girls basketball team to a state title, falling to eventual state champion Archbishop Williams on the famed parquet at the TD Garden.

Oyola has moved on to become the head coach of the WHS boys basketball team this season and next week he has a truly great “Winthrop Vikings Youth Basketball Clinic” planned for girls and boys in grades 3-7 at the WHS Gymnasium.

For a very reasonable cost of $40, players will get top-notch instruction from Oyola and his staff of coaches and a free T-shirt for all participants, which is a nice touch. Coach Oyola, a member of the Winthrop Police Department, is trying to recapture the glory that the boys program enjoyed in the 1970, when Chris Tsiotos ruled the scholastic basketball scene; in the 1995 season when Todd Doherty sank a shot from the corner at the old Boston Garden that still brings chills to Winthrop fans; and more recently, when David Brown led a gritty band of Vikings to the state championship. (And we would be remiss if we did not mention the Winthrop boys hoop teams that dominated the Northeastern Conference for decades from the 1940s through the 1960s, including an EMass Class B title in 1962 that was won on the old Garden floor.)

We’re pleased that Coach Oyola has opened up his clinic to boys and girls and it’s certainly will be a fun experience for those who want to sharpen their skills with the new basketball season just weeks away.

Thank you, Ignacio, for giving our youth a good, healthy, and safe opportunity to grasp the techniques necessary to become good basketball players.