WORCESTER, Mass. - The Clark high school basketball tournament is all about tradition - tradition for the towns, the teams, the families and the coaches. 

At Tuesday's media day, coaches got up one-by-one and talked about how special the tournament is and what it means to them. 

"These guys, to get to experience this, and girls when you get to experience it, it's marvelous," said Quaboag boys head coach Chris Reilly. "It's different than anything we can describe up here. And if you actually get a chance to play in that gym, holy mackerel."

"The Clark Tournament is a special tournament," said Hopedale boys head coach Tony Cordani. "For those of you who haven't been here before, it's something you will remember for the rest of your lives."

"The Clark is very special to me, my dad loved this place."  said Sutton girls head coach John Doldoorian Jr. "He used to bring myself and my brother here, I was probably 8 years old when I first started coming and this is where we spent every February vacation."

"I know first hand how tremendous the tournament can be for your fans, school, players and obviously your coaches too," said Millbury boys head coach Jim Donnelly.  

The tournament starts this weekend with first round large school boys games being played at Grafton High School and small school boys games at Oxford High School. The girls start with the semi-finals this Sunday at Clark University.