Basketball FAQ
This is a new program in the Norcross community so we want to provide as many answers to questions as possible so we provide a LOT of detail in this section. If you have any questions that are not answered in these details, please contact the NYAA Basketball Director at [email protected].
What kind of program are you?
We are a recreational program. This means that unlike AAU or GBL we do not have select teams, cut or turn away players based on ability. We want all players to have an opportunity to learn and to play.
The same for cheerleading, we want to provide an affordable place for those who want to cheer to have an opportunity to gain experience and keep their skills sharp if they cheer in other programs.
Does this mean you are not competitive?
No it does not. We still keep score, there is still a winner in each contest, and we still have placings and rankings. However, our rules are designed to be fair and allow every participant to learn fundamentals and be a part of the team with guaranteed playtime.
What ages can play?
We accept 3 year olds through 18 year old High Schoolers for both basketball. For cheerleading we accept ages 5-14.
How does 3/4 Year old work?
This is a basically an intramural type concept. Our goal is not to throw 3/4 year olds out there to play games before they are ready. In fact they will not play an actual game until they are actually ready. The goal for this age group is to introduce them to the game of basketball. This includes everything from learning the court, to offense and defense, to dribbling, passing and helping them learn to shoot.
This is fundamental training and learning. When they do play, it will be in sizes of 3x3 on shortened goals with parameters that assist in them learning the game. Team sizes will be no more than 5 per team. Games - occur only when a team is actually ready, and typically it will be at the end of a practice period on a running clock. However, if space is available on Saturdays, we may have games when ready on a Saturday. Coaches are expected to help both teams during games and parents are expected to encourage both teams - this is a skill and orientation building age group, not a competitive activity.
NO SCORE - repeat - NO SCORE will kept for this age group.
The premise is for them to learn the game and be ready to play fully organized basketball when they step on the court at age 5/6.
You have a High School 18U age group?
Unfortunately, we no longer do ages from 15-18.
Can my daughter play basketball?
Your daughter may certainly play basketball. At older ages however, we are numbers dependent on whether they will play gender specific or COED (typically we play every age co-ed unless we get a large number of girls within a specific age range). At ages 3-8 they will only be COED.This fits in with a majority of the county who at the younger ages have all gone co-ed in their recreational basketball programs.
How are basketball teams created?
Prior to the start of the season, we will have evaluations based on age groups. During evaluations, coaches will rank players based on their current ability. Should there be a discrepancy between rankings of a player, then a board member will arbitrate and decide their ranking.
Once players are ranked, a draft will be held and rankings and each coach will select a player of the same ranking. When one rank is completed then coaches will select from the next ranking. This is to balance out teams, ensure there is no stacking of teams and provide balanced competition.
You said rankings, can you explain that in more detail?
Certainly. What will happen, is age group dependent, at evaluations a set of drills will be set up on the court. Each player will go through the drills and based on their performance be ranked in that drill. An average score for the drills will be created for each player and they will be ranked based on that average.
For example, let us say we have 5 and 6 year old players. The drills may be as simple as can a player shoot a free throw from 12 feet on an 8 foot basketball goal height. Can those players dribble the ball while moving through spaced cones, complete a bounce or chest pass, or catch those passes? It may also include a direction based exercise that is less physical but more meant to determine ability to listen and follow instruction. That is pretty simple but includes some core concepts that allow a coach to see what type of ability each player has.
What if my player cannot make evaluations?
If a player misses evaluations, he will be randomly placed on a team by the board after the draft.
Can I request a Coach?
No. The only player a coach can save for a team is his/her own son/daughter. We do not allow requests either from coaches or parents as to team placement. Again we strive to make teams as balanced as possible and remove any temptation to create advantages for any team.
How are ages decided and can my player play up?
We use September 1stas an age date. The reason for this is to mirror several other sports and allow friends, classmates, teammates in other sports to stay within the same age groups. This does not mean they will be on the same team. We do not allow players to “play up”. A player must play within the age group which he is designated by birth date.
Can my player pick his number?
No. Basketball has a limited number of legal numbers. We order jerseys and numbers based on sizing and the number your player gets for the season will be decided by the coach based on uniforms received.
Do you have basketball rules?
Yes we do and they can be downloaded from the basketball home page.
What are the age groups for teams?
Basketball will have different age groups at times. We try to keep the ages for basketball in brackets such as 4U, 6U, 8U, 10U, 12U and 14U and 18U, but it is always dependent on the number of registrants so can vary.
Some parks still have 8U only or other teams which include up to 3 or 4 ages and we strive to avoid that whenever possible.
What equipment does my player need for basketball?
Your player should have basketball shoes, a mouthpiece (optional but advised), and access to a basketball.
Is there a tournament at the end of the season?
Yes, we will hold an end of season internal tournament to determine the top teams in every age group. Every team will participate and regular season records or random draw will determine brackets for the tournament. Currently we participate in an end of the season tournament with Gwinnett Youth Basketball League - this includes teams from Duluth, Gwinnett Christian, Norcross, Peachtree Ridge, Shiloh and Lanier currently.
Will every team get a trophy?
No. We do not do participation trophies for basketball. Some sports participate in leagues which require participation trophies, however we do not. Only the top two teams – the teams that play in each age groups internal championship will get trophies. This does not preclude teams from purchasing trophies for their individual teams, however NYAA Basketball will only provide Championship and Runner-Up trophies only.
Does NYAA participate in any All-Star programs?
We will participate in the GRABB tournament with other associations for All-Stars. This is the only time in which player would be selected in our program based on ability. Each team can field up to 10 players, however in All-Stars there is no guaranteed playtime or minimums required. There also is an additional cost for selected players who choose to participate which can vary season to season – we do not build in All-Star participation to our registration.
What does the association provide with my fees?
Your registration includes insurance, marketing, gym time, referee costs, coach’s shirts, uniform, banquet, etc.
Facilities are our biggest cost - for the 2017/18 season we have budgeted $20,000 dollars for facility (court rental) fees alone.
Uniforms are our next biggest cost - starting in 2017/18 we will participate in the Jr. Hawks program with the NBA Atlanta Hawks and will purchase our uniforms through their program.
Referees are our third biggest cost, the insurance etc.
What is the spirit fee?
We don't want to change the registration fee every season - however some seasons require additional expenditures than others so we use the spirit fee to make any adjustments as we can simply lower it or keep it the same season to season depending on need.
This spirit fee takes place of doing an in season fundraiser. They are difficult and time consuming to manage, and participation is not always equal. Therefore we simply add it on as a spirit fee in lieu of a fundraiser.
For example - some equipment has a lifespan of 5 years, so it will not need to be purchased again immediately, other items have spans from 2-5 years as well. Some seasons, when having to buy new equipment the need will be higher, but in subsequent years simple maintenance or measured replacement will keep the costs lower.
This season we have need to purchase inserts that will lower the rims at school facilities - these run about $650 dollars each. As we grow, we need additional basketballs, table top scoreboards, etc.
As stated, in subsequent seasons the need will be reduced, and as such we will just reduce the spirit fee that is used specifically for program improvement and enhancement.
What is the raffle?
With the spirit fee, we offer a raffle and each registrant will get a corresponding number of raffle tickets for their spirit fee. With $10 dollar raffle tickets, each registrant would get 3 tickets.
The raffle will occur at our Jamboree and will include a chance to win items such as an Ipad, Xbox, Playstation, Spa Package etc.
However, a person does not have to keep the raffle tickets - registrants can sell the raffle tickets and get their spirit money back - they just have to turn in the tickets with the buyers name at the designated time.
What is the discount or registration fee waiver with raffle tickets?
While there are partial scholarships available through the county, there are not enough for everyone. As an organization, we do not have the ability or funds to offer discounts. But we want to offer a way to reduce cost where we can for registrants, so we allow them to sell raffle tickets for a discount or in lieu of registration fees. There are very specific parameters around this.
First - this in only available at the first and second walk-up registrations.
Second - the raffle tickets MUST be turned in at the next scheduled walk-up registration.
It works as following - and these are the only options.
A registrant can sell 10 tickets and get $50 dollars off registration.
A registrant can sell 25 tickets and get their entire registration waived.
Finally - this DOES include any tickets sold for a reduction in registration fees - a registrant can sell 50 tickets and they will get their choice of an IPAD, XBOX or Playstation.
This is a way for us to still meet our fundraising goals to provide equipment and improvements to the program and also reduce a registrants financial burden - and also incentivize those who are really really motivated to raise additional funds to help improve the program.
Any raffle tickets not sold for discounts - a participant is responsible for. So if you choose to sell 25 for a waiver of registration fees but only sell 21 - you would be responsible for the 4 remaining tickets at $40.
To be clear - should we exceed our goal of fundraising - we will provide more than planned for our players and cheerleaders.
What if I just want to sell some extra raffle tickets to help the program?
Did you think we'd say no? Come on down - we are more than happy to give someone a couple extra tickets to sell if they simply want to help out with additional fundraising. We are striving to make this the best program we are capable of; to make it both fun and entertaining for the players and parents, so we would absolutely LOVE any additional help.
I want to, or I know someone who wants to coach basketball, who do they contact?
To keep it simple they can contact the VP of each age group for basketball.
For ages 3-10 in basketball they can email Liz Lewis.
For ages 11-18 in basketball they can email Sylvester Pressley.
If they are unsure in any way what age etc. they want to coach, they can contact Lex Davis.
Jr. Hawks program has been referenced, any additional information on what that is?
Sure thing. Some of this is subject to change but here is how it currently works.
The Atlanta Hawks partner with youth programs to provide additional benefits to programs and help keep kids interested in the game as well as add some benefits for them playing the game of basketball.
So with the Jr. Hawks program, we pay a set fee per participant depending on a couple of factors. We then get our basketball uniforms from the Hawks program through their retailers.
In addition to our uniforms, each participant gets two tickets to select Hawks home games. Now these are not going to be good for Hawks vs. Cleveland etc. but they provide for multiple games that can be chosen from. In addition each registrant get discounts on any additional Hawks tickets they may purchase during the season.
For one of these nights we will schedule a Norcross Basketball night. On this night, players will get participate in activities that we coordinate for the evening. Cheerleaders will get to go back with the Hawks cheerleaders and learn a cheer that they will then get to pump up the crowd with pregame.
In addition, all of our Coaches will get to go to a clinic with the Hawks coaching staff that lasts for approximately 3 hours, where they are able to improve their coaching skills and eat a meal with the Hawks staff.
There are other activities and things to be done with the program and depending on season schedule, we will take advantage of as many things as we can with the program for our participants.
One thing we will REALLY REALLY REALLY try to take advantage of is getting a team or two on the court pre-game to play a running 6 minute game on the Hawks court. That opportunity is very limited so we will try our very best to make that happen.
Finally, the Hawks will also give us a link with our organization code in it that can be shared with family, friends, coworkers, or anyone you can think of for purchasing tickets - any tickets purchased through that link will provide a percentage back of the proceeds to our program at the end of the NBA season.
Will we have a Jamboree to start the season and Banquet to end it?
You better believe it. Oh the plans we have for this are AH-MAZE-ZING. Obviously we may be limited in scope but our plans nonetheless are very grand. We want players to learn fundamentals, have fun playing basketball - but we also want them to be entertained, to remember their seasons playing youth basketball and we are planning Jamboree and our end of year banquet to meet that goal.
And yes, we are going to bring back our biggest hit - the Coach vs Parent game this season. Maybe we can get the referee's to play a referee vs coach game too? We'll check into that one.
So if you work in an industry or know of anyone or any business that you think would want to donate anything to support our Jamboree or our end of year banquet/celebration, then please let Lex Davis know.
In 2016/17 we had an awesome parent who worked for Coke that was able to provide drinks to our end of year banquet that really helped us out.
We do our celebrations a little differently than some sports - some sports do it by team - we don't. We are one basketball program and one big family and as such, we celebrate as one big family - together!
Can my company or place of work donate or sponsor to your program?
Didn't think we'd say no here either did you? We have several parents or business owners in different sports who donate or sponsor our programs.
We are a 501C3 Non-profit organization.
If your business or place of work donates or offers sponsorship's, we would be happy to work with them. This program is about the youth in our community so we are willing to work with anyone who wants to help improve this program for our youth.
Feel free to contact Lex Davis about any inquiries about your work or company providing a donation or sponsorship. We appreciate any help we can get - remember we are all volunteers just working to provide the best opportunities we can for our community.
I noticed a word misspelled, a grammatical error, punctuation error - what do I do?
Ugh - yeah that bugs us too. Just email the guy who we will blame for making the mistake and he'll fix the eyesore. That's Lex Davis.
Knock Knock!
Who's there?
To!
To who?
No, To whom!