No one is perfect, and neither is any small-town recreation department.

But the shortcomings with the Washington Youth Basketball League were impossible to ignore during last weekend’s championship festivities. The way Saturday’s five games played out highlighted some deficiencies that need addressing.

The 9-10 boys’ championship led into Saturday’s main event. It was the fourth of five games on the slate, and the 11-14 girls were set to close out the day. It was as good a basketball game a fan could ask for. Neither team led by more than seven points in the second half, and it was a two-shot game most of the way through.

It was exciting. Dozens of fans — maybe even a hundred or so — shook the Bobby Andrews Recreation Center. It demonstrated all the strengths of Washington’s recreation department.

The 11-14 girls game that capped off the afternoon was the exact opposite. There were only about two dozen fans that stuck around to watch it. The outcome of the game was never in doubt because there are only two teams in that division, and the Lady Warriors had decimated the Lady Magic each time they met during the regular season.

The 7-10 girls final between Fitness Unlimited suffered from the same lack of excitement. They were also the only two teams in their division, and Fitness Unlimited had decisively beaten Tayloe Drug in each of their meetings.

Kudos to Tayloe Drug, though, for giving Fitness Unlimited its toughest challenge yet in the championship meeting.

This isn’t an indictment on the players that put in the practice time all season. It isn’t on the volunteer coaches who spent their time bringing their players along. It’s neither of their faults that there wasn’t enough interest — namely in the female divisions — for there to be captivating contests.

However, these games are a disservice to those that love to play basketball. For the two losing teams, coming up short time and again can be disheartening. It can, in some cases, be enough to turn a 7 to 14-year-old girl off to basketball.

And for the winning teams, it was apparent in multiple instances this past weekend that some of their talented basketball players were simply going through motions. These kinds of games won’t make anyone better players.

So what’s the answer? There probably isn’t just one answer. If there simply aren’t enough local girls interested in playing basketball, there’s not much that can be done to alleviate this. If there are girls that want to play and aren’t, seeing these games won’t make them want to be part of the programs.

Parents, coaches and recreation-department officials need to engage in conversation on this matter. Given the current trajectory, this problem is trending further downward.

Last weekend proved that recreation basketball can be a beneficial experience to all involved. The department now just needs to find out how to make that a reality for all of its participants.