Question: How long is the season?

Answer:

The winter traveling basketball season is five months of practices, tournaments, and fun - usually starting by November and ending in mid-March.  All games are played on weekends as part of tournaments (no weeknight games).  Tournaments typically begin in November and conclude in mid-March at Grade State.  Tournaments usually consist of at least three games held on Saturday and/or Sunday of a weekend.  Some tournaments schedule "one day" meaning all games are Saturday OR Sunday, while others will be scheduled across both days of the weekend.  Teams will know which weekends have a tournament near the start of the season, however each tournament's game schedules are usually released the week prior to the tournament.

Here is a more detailed timeline of the season's key events:

• Registration: opens in August and closes at Evaluations
• Player Evaluations: late September
• Team Announcements: around the first week of October
• Season Tip-Off Event: typically early October
• Practices: start in late October (usually after MEA weekend)
• Tournaments: occur between November and mid-March.  We are anticipating the following number of tournaments for each grade over those five months (Note that this is subject to change and tournament availability).
  • 3rd Grade: 7-8 tournaments
  • 4th Grade: 9-10 tournaments
  • 5th-8th Grade: 10-11 tournaments, including one "overnight" tournament (typically in Rochester the first weekend in March).

 

Question: How much and when do you practice?

Answer:

• Teams will typically practice two to three times per week, usually for 90 minutes.  Most practices will be held during the week, though occasionally coaches will hold weekend practices if there is not a tournament scheduled.
• Exact times and locations of practices for your team will be posted on the association web site under your team's calendar and is updated throughout the season.