Quote:
Originally posted by theboys
Hey, Mark P.
Your league sounds like an awesome organization. You should think about publishing some sort of "guide" to setting up youth basketball programs.
Have you been with the league from the beginning?
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No - it is 23 years old. At various times, we combined for a few years with neighboring cities, but we have more than enough kids by ourselves, so we just make our boundaries for rec the same as the school district.
I should mention that our HS boys and girls coaches put on clinics for our rec coaches and help pick our classic teams, since we are the main feed into their program. There are no school sponsored teams in elementary or middle schools in our district, so we "are it."
We do not have sponsorships, and the entire program is paid for through registration fees. This year, rec is $65 for grades 3-8 and $85 for HS (we pay the refs more for HS). Classic can run as much as $350 including uniform, depending on how many tournaments are entered and how much the team travels. We also have a financial assistance program both in rec and classic. We fund this through late registration fee penalties. We provide reversible jerseys to all rec players each year and we must pay the school district for gym rental fees.
A few years ago, we had a mom insist her son be placed on the same team as a neighbor so he could get a ride to all games and practices from the neighbor's dad. She claimed she had no other means of transportation. I dealt with her and asked her if she couldn't impose upon her husband, since he owned 6 car dealerships!