Youth: Sharpshooters get ready for the Youth Free Throw Championship

Boys and girls, ages 10 to 14, can participate in the local competition, beginning at 10 a.m. on the park's courts.

Mike Sbertoli, Free Throw committee chairman, said there will be competition at each age level. Boys and girls will compete together in the 10- and 11-year-old age group, using girls basketballs, which are slightly smaller than regulation balls. They will shoot free throws from 12 feet instead of the regulation 15 feet.

Girls will compete in 12-, 13- and 14-year-old divisions, using a girls basketball but shooting from regulation foul-line distance. Boys in the same age groups will use a men's regulation ball and shoot from 15 feet.

Each participant will receive a certificate. Sbertoli said the winners will receive special certificates and move on to district competition in February in Naples, followed by regional competition the same month in Fort Myers. State championships will be decided in March in Orlando. From those championships, scores will be matched for international champions, Sbertoli said.

He was not sure how many competed on Marco Island a year ago, but more than 247,000 sharpshooters participated in more than 4,000 local competitions nationally. Participants are required to furnish proof of age and written parental consent.

Entry forms are available at Marco Island Charter Middle School, Manatee Middle School, Tommie Barfield Elementary, the Marco Island YMCA and Mackle Park. For more information, contact Sbertoli at 389-1041.