Bigger than basketball: Mainland coach Joe Giddens hosts eighth annual summer basketball league

Summer kicked off with the sounds of bouncing basketballs and referees' whistles. Mainland, Seabreeze, Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas are among the teams trying to get a head start on next season.

  • By Michele Meyers
  • | 3:00 p.m. June 18, 2026
  • Ormond Beach Observer
  • Sports
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Mainland high school students celebrated as the final bell rang out the school year on May 28. Some looked forward to family vacations, a summer job or just relaxing following a year of assignments. But on June 1, Mainland basketball players jumped right back onto the courts to play ball in the Buccaneers' annual summer basketball league.

This is Mainland head coach Joe Giddens’ eighth year running the nearly four-week league held at the Bucs' Vince Carter Athletic Center.

“I think the basketball league helps kids stay out of trouble,” Giddens said. “If kids are in the gym, they stay out of trouble. I think that as a community, it’s something positive, because little kids come in [to watch] and they’re looking at the future stars of the area, looking at what their futures might be. They get a chance to come see it up close. I think it’s a great, great thing.”

As a kid, Giddens lived in subsidized housing with his family while his mother, Joanne, drove a bus for Volusia County and worked a second job at a nursing home. Sports were a means for Giddens to extricate himself from poverty. He continues to provide opportunities for his student-athletes to do the same.


We win because I love my players. It’s bigger than basketball over here. I love them, and I appreciate them. I call them, and we talk all the time. If they need me, I’m there. I win more basketball games by doing that than by doing Xs and Os.
— JOE GIDDENS, Mainland head basketball coach

Giddens earned a full scholarship to play football at Virginia Union University before transferring to Bethune-Cookman University to play football and basketball.

“I played football and basketball in high school and in college,” he said. “I’ve always used sports as my way to get out of poverty. I lived in assisted housing, so sports were my way out. I’m just passionate about it.”

In addition to participating in Mainland’s summer league this June, his team has attended Embry-Riddle’s Men’s Basketball Weekend Shootout, is currently attending ERAU’s team camp and played five games against elite Florida teams at the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches Boys Showcase in Gainesville. Multiple final-four teams participated in the showcase, including Bartow, Belen Jesuit and Santa Fe Catholic. Giddens said he knows his team is in the right place if teams of that caliber are involved.

“Summertime is when you get a chance to see growth — seeing your kids grow, make mistakes, learn from them, get in close game situations, so you can get better when the season comes,” Giddens said. “It’s not about wins or losses.”

This year, eight girls teams hit the courts every Monday and Wednesday night and play an average of six to seven games, along with 12 boys teams that play on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Twelve JV teams play games simultaneously on the upstairs courts. Local teams include Atlantic, Calvary Christian, Flagler Palm Coast, Halifax Academy, Matanzas, New Smyrna Beac, and Seabreeze. Teams also travel from as far away as Cocoa and Melbourne.


‘GOAL TO BE BEST FPC TEAM WE CAN BE’

Seabreeze JV player Rigsby Wile said the summer league helps build confidence. He was glad to see his friend Matthew Meek make a game-winning 3-pointer against University. 

“I think it helps the coaches to get to know the players,” Wile said. “There’s no pressure. You can work on stuff that you’ve been working on, and try things that you might not be able to try in an actual game.”

Flagler Palm Coast head coach Greg Shirley said the Bulldogs won their first four games of the summer league even though they were missing their only returning starter, guard Tony Coates, who was on vacation. Eight FPC players graduated last month, including top scorers Anthony Hampton and Nate Perry. Hampton scored 1,000 points during his career at FPC, and Perry was the Florida Athletic Coaches Association's District 6 Class 7A Player of the Year. Both signed to play at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.

“We have a bunch of guys that work hard, they represent the school well in the classroom and on the basketball court, and they’re fun to coach,” Shirley said. “It’s all a process, so our goal is to be the best FPC team we can be. We still have a long way to go to reach that, but I am very proud of the effort and proud of how they are being coachable and being good teammates.”

Shirley said assistant coach Johnny Hampton did a great job with the JV team which finished the 2025-26 season 12-3.

“The combination of a JV team finishing with one of the better records ever, and a couple of guys that just did not get as much time behind some of the seniors last year, has resulted in good young men playing hard,” Shirley said. “All I want is perfect effort. Can’t be perfect, but you can get perfect effort and personal excellence.” 


MATANZAS' JAYDEN MCCOY: THIS HELPS US BUILD CHEMISTRY

Matanzas lost 66-61 in overtime against University in their second game of the night on June 11. Head coach Eric Guerrero said he is proud of his players’ efforts during the back-to-back games following their daily workouts and skill drills.

“It was a scrappy game,” he said. “They have really good guards over at University, so it was a good test for us. I told the boys, these are the teams that we want to see to make sure the moves we make when we’re tired are the moves we’re going to make late in the game when it comes to the playoffs. We’re getting everything we need here at this league.”

Two of Guerrero’s standout players are rising juniors and learning to take on leadership roles — his son, Jamel Guerrero, and Jayden McCoy. Jamel and McCoy have played basketball since they were 4 or 5 years old and started playing together in the eighth grade.

Jamel Guererro starts his day at 6 a.m., putting up 500 shots followed by a weight room workout.

“(This league) helps me personally get ready for these close-game situations, and try to help my team the best I can,” he said. “For the team, same thing, you got to learn how to play in these hard situations late in the game.”

McCoy also plays cornerback and slot receiver for the Pirates’ football team. He is currently doing morning workouts with the football team and playing in the summer basketball league in the evenings. 

“We (Jamel and I ) have good chemistry already, so we can see that look, and we know what to do,” McCoy said. “This (summer league) helps us come together as a team. We’ve got some of the young guys coming up, so it helps us build team chemistry.”

Giddens said while he was shopping for shoes at the mall, a former Deltona High School player approached him and asked if he ever got tired of winning. Giddens said he smiled and told him others might think it is because Mainland has good players, but it is not.

“We win because I love my players,” he said. “It’s bigger than basketball over here. I love them, and I appreciate them. I call them, and we talk all the time. If they need me, I’m there. I win more basketball games by doing that than by doing Xs and Os. It’s about showing love. I love my kids, so I treat my players the same. I discipline them when they need to be and hold them accountable. They’ll work hard for me, because I love on them.”

 

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