Holiday tournament time in Cullman County tipped off on the basketball courts Tuesday night at Cold Springs High School.

The annual post-Christmas Tournament shared by the Eagles and West Point High School started in Bremen with first-round action of Hanceville vs. West; Morgan and St. Bernard vs. Fairview. The tourney will run through Thursday and Friday.

While not all Cullman County teams participate in the Eagle/Warrior tourney, a handful do fill their holiday time with hoops’ action.

“My first year as head coach we didn’t play in a Christmas tournament,” said Cold Springs head coach Tim Burleson. “We had two key area games following the break and lost both of them. Holiday tournaments help get the rust off and keep you from getting out of sync. I’ll always be involved.”

Hanceville head coach Daniel Wakefield agreed with Burleson’s assessment for playing during the holidays.

“Playing during the Christmas holidays can keep your team from getting stale,” Wakefield said. “You hope that your team can stay in rhythm from the first to the second half of the season. You would like to win the tournament, but you just hope to keep stay in rhythm.”

Pam Fields, mother of Cold Springs’ player Heith Fields, doesn’t think playing during the holidays is any sort of problem.

“I love it,” Fields said. “More families can get to see the kids play and I just think it’s fantastic.”

While most high school kids enjoy the holidays for the break from school, basketball players still attend practice almost everyday.

“Heith has practiced almost every day since school was out,” Fields added. “He has been at the school nearly every morning at 9 a.m.”