Chad Jones’ travel itinerary for the remainder of this summer is envious.

The Smithville High head boys basketball coach is visiting locales near and far — the Lake of the Ozarks and The Bahamas, to be exact — in his quest to find the perfect round of golf.

However, while not quite so glamorous, he also derived plenty of satisfaction from making the 27-mile roundtrip to Kearney each Sunday in June.

After five years of playing host to the local high school summer basketball league, Jones was ready to hand it off to someone else for the 2009 edition.

"It wears on you," Jones admitted. "Games start at 4 and they end at 10 at night. It just gets to be really long."

Into the void stepped Kearney coach Gary Belcher, who offered to run both this year’s varsity league — which came to a close Sunday, June 28 — as well as the junior varsity and freshman versions that will wrap up tonight at Kearney Middle School.

"I made sure there was a place for us to go before I turned it over," Jones said.

By doing so, it freed him up to spend more time focused on X’s and O’s this summer with an experienced varsity team looking to add to its string of five consecutive district title game appearances once the 2009-10 season arrives.

"It allowed me more time to work with my team rather than worrying about, ‘Is the referee going to show up? Is this team going to be here on time?" Jones said.

That work allowed the Warriors to finish with a 16-10 mark during its monthlong cavalcade of games, including a split against Kearney and Staley during their final two performances Sunday.

Now, the basketballs and whistles get put away, and Smithville gets back to work on its home turf — in the weight room.

"If you’re not getting bigger and stronger, the other team is, and you’re falling behind," Jones said. "It’s real important for us to get in and pump some iron and get in shape for the winter."

Sports Editor Scott Tittrington can be reached at 389-6632 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .