It’s a typical Saturday morning in winter at the north-end ferry dock. Cars lined up the hill are filled with enthusiastic grandparents, parents armed with Costco lists, bleary-eyed brothers and sisters and nervous fourth- through eighth-graders en route to Seattle. These young Islanders aren’t leaving Vashon for a day trip or shopping, though. They’re off to play basketball.

During Vashon Island Junior Basketball’s 2011-2012 season, a record 11 teams with a total of 85 players made the trek nearly every Saturday from January through March to take on teams in Seattle Parks and Recreation’s basketball program.

VIJB’s off-Island program was formed in 1997 by a group of parents who were dedicated to increasing the number of young Vashon players who would go on to play for the high school.

Until then, young basketball players in kindergarten through sixth grade played informal games against their own Vashon cohorts in the VIJB program, sponsored by the Vashon Park District.

However, VIJB’s off-Island program, which is not affiliated with the park district, allowed players in fifth through eighth grades to play more competitive games against teams in the Seattle area.

Since then, the program has had the intended effect of making Vashon’s high school basketball teams almost yearly participants in post-season playoffs and championships.

VIJB’s first official off-Island team was a fifth-grade boys team in 1998. The boys on that team ended up playing together from fifth grade through their senior year of high school, and they were on the VHS basketball team that won the Nisqually League title in 2005. Starting then, a run of VHS basketball teams dominated the Nisqually League and 1A state tournament for the next eight seasons.

The following year, the girls who began in off-Island VIJB in 1999 went on to compete in the state basketball championships in 2006 and began a string of state tournament appearances for the high school team.

During the beginning years of the program, some grades did not have teams. But for the most part when there was a parent who stepped up and took on the role as coach to shepherd and motivate the team, the program has led the players up the skill ranks and helped more and more grow into Pirate athletes.

VIJB’s seventh- and eighth-grade off-Island teams have been vital in preparing players to enter into the high school programs, supplementing the short middle school game schedule and providing a great deal more playing time to develop potential Pirates.

Several graduates of VIJB are now seeing success in college hoops.

John Gage and Alex Wegner are currently playing in the NCAA Division 1 Pac-12 League, Gage at Stanford and Wegner at the University of Washington.

In addition, Charlie Hoffman plays at Northwest Nazarene and Zach Andrus at the University of Victoria.

Glenna Mileson, Wegner’s mother and an early off-Island coach, said VIJB’s off-Island program has been critical for young players who want to improve their game.

“For kids that love their sport and want to reach their potential, they need a challenge,” she said. “Taking them to Seattle gives them the chance to play against better competition and improve their skills.”

This year, with a record number of teams and players going off-Island to compete in the Seattle program, future Pirates have dominated the courts with a winning percentage of 75 percent over nearly 100 games. Six teams made it to the end-of-season playoffs (including all four girls teams), and two of those six teams won the City Championships.

This year’s fifth-grade girls team, coached by Jim Simmonds and Mary Shemeta, won the Seattle City Championship trophy on Saturday. Earlier this season, the same team came home from Port Angeles with a first-place win in the highly competitive President’s Weekend Tournament earlier in the season.

This year’s fifth-grade boys team, coached by Ty Cunningham, also won their Seattle Gold Select League Championship on Saturday with a thrilling final-second shot to break a tied game.

Fifth- and sixth-graders in VIJB’s off-Island program are required to participate in the on-Island program as well. This rule has kept the on-Island program vital and alive and opened up basketball to numerous boys and girls who did not choose to play in their earlier years or whose skills developed later.

VIJB off-Island teams are also the core players who make up the more than 20 small teams that travel to Spokane each June to compete in Hoopfest, the world’s largest three-on-three contest.

So when you are on the ferries on a Saturday morning in February and see the gaggles of boys and girls in their green and white Seattle Parks jerseys taping ankles and reeking of liniment, remember you are witnessing the future of Vashon basketball.

— Pat Call is a VIJB board member, coach and father of two boys who have played in the program.