Montezuma’s Janel Burgess helps lead the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers to a Granny Basketball national title

       Janel Burgess of Montezuma, third from right, is joined by her Cedar Rapids Sizzlers Granny Basketball team after being named national champions for a third consecutive year in July. Burgess, a Montezuma graduate and standout basketball player at Iowa State, said the experience was an amazing outlet for her own competitiveness and lots of fun.

By J.O. Parker
 
       Granny Basketball is a growing sport in Iowa and across the country and for one Montezuma teacher and coach, returning to the court as a player was fun and a dream come true.
      Janel Burgess, the Montezuma Bravettes Head Basketball Coach, played in two regular season dates and the state and national tournaments, helping lead the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers to a third consecutive Granny Basketball National Championship in July.
      The team won the Iowa Senior State games for the state championship in June, which was at Valley High School, and then the national championship series in Ankeny. The national championship game moves around each year with Iowa hosting it this year.
       Burgess didn’t play in three tournaments due to either her age or attending one of her children’s activities.
     The Sizzlers began their championship run with three pool-play games, beating the Lady Redbirds of Carlisle and the ICT Aerobeles of Wichita, Kan., before falling to the Harpers Ferry Fireflies, finishing pool play, 2-1, and earning the No. 2 seed in their championship pool.
        In the opening round of championship series, the Sizzlers defeated the Waco Six Shooters of Texas, 61-46, before topping the Late Bloomers of Iowa, 65-52, in the semifinals.
         The win set up a championship-game rematch against the Lady Redbirds, with the Sizzlers winning, 52-46, and capturing a three-game sweep to take the trophy home.
         Granny Basketball was formed in 2005 by Barb McPherson Trammell of Lansing, Iowa. It began with an exhibition game to raise money to save a historic building.
       Today, there are 57 teams in the Granny Basketball League spread across 11 U.S. states and one Canadian province. There are now more than 800 players and volunteers in the league with teams divided into six divisions.
        Iowa has the most teams with 14 followed by Texas with 13 and Kansas with 12. Oklahoma has four teams and Missouri and California each have three teams. Two more states have two teams and three others along with Canada have one team each.
       Joining Burgess on the Sizzlers team were Virginia McFadden, Sue Cahalan, Cathy Snow, Linda Jennings, Melissa Harley, Jen Neubaer, Michelle Kraft, Margaret Beuter, Tricia Van Roekel, and Trish Spear.
Burgess learned about Granny Basketball through Megan Carlson, the Montezuma PE teacher, who connected her with Jen Neubaer, a coach and player on the Sizzlers team.
       “So when I found out that I could play this, I was like well I might see how that would go,” said Burgess. “Jen reached out to me a year ago and when high school basketball was over, I started practicing.”
         Burgess practiced a few times with the Sizzlers before she turned 50 and loved the ladies.
         “The ladies I get to play with are amazing – we range in age of 50-75 and within our group who play, two amazing ladies have led us as coaches, too,” said Burgess.
       “The Sizzlers’ accomplishment is part of a much larger and growing movement in women’s athletics,” noted information in a Cedar Rapids Gazette article. “Granny Basketball is a nonprofit organization that provides competitive exercise and camaraderie for women age 50 and older while preserving the history and traditions of six-on-six girls’ basketball. The game is played using modified 1920s-era rules, with players assigned to sections of the court and wearing uniforms inspired by those worn by early women’s basketball teams.”
         The key is players are not allowed to run or jump in games.
          Burgess played defense and offense, but mostly offense for the Sizzlers.
       “It was an amazing outlet for my own competitiveness and return to play basketball again,” noted Burgess, a Montezuma graduate and standout player at Iowa State from 1994 - 98. “When I walked off the court at ISU, I never thought I would compete again and this is an amazing way to play basketball, sweat, meet people and win as a team.”
          Burgess said playing Granny Basketball has helped her become a better coach.
          “I remember now the nervous feelings,” Burgess recalled of her playing days. “I can now relate to how in game situations it can be hard.
         “In fact, after the pool play bracket of the national title, I came home and shot free throws with my entire family,” Burgess added. “I didn’t shoot them well when my family came to watch and they said, ‘we want to rebound for you.’ Thankfully, we did that because our national title game came down to making free throws.”
          Burgess, who has taken the Bravettes to state six times, said the pressure of the game is real for her own players and this experience reminded her of all the raw feelings she had as a player even though it was Granny Basketball.
         “It is competitive, it is for a title and we as a team wanted to do whatever we could to win,” said Burgess. “It also reiterated the value of knowing and playing your role. Within our team, we had to play in order to be our best and that is what our Bravettes need to do as well, embrace the roles they have earned and be their best at it for the team’s success.”
          “I’m thankful my family allowed me to do this,” Burgess said in wrapping up a fun summer of basketball.

      Janel Burgess, left photo, is joined by her husband, Tim, and parents, Elmer and Dolores, at a recent Granny Basketball game. Burgess, who was playing her first year in the league, helped lead the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers to the team’s third national championship. Janel Burgess, right photo, and Jen Neubaer, a player and coach with the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers Granny Basketball team, celebrate after the team won its third consecutive national title in July.