AMERICUS - Members of the Georgia Southwestern men's basketball team served as "Buddies" for the 5 and 6-year-old children of the Sumter County Parks & Recreation Department Buddy Basketball program on Saturday.

The Buddy Basketball program runs each Saturday in January at The Columns at Boone Park. Each child has a "Buddy". Usually it's a mom or dad, but in this session the GSW players and coaches came out to be "Buddies" with the players.

Buddy Basketball is a skills development program where the kids are taught the basic fundamentals of the game so that when they are seven years old and advance into team play they understand the basics of the game.