Q: When are athletic team tryouts held?
A: Typically tryouts are held in September on back to back weekends (Sat-Sun). We have to hold them early enough to complete roster building, secure coaches, order uniforms and register teams with CPYBL by the league’s deadline.
We know that there are many community fall sports programs, AAU basketball and other sports and non-sports programs that may cause conflicts. We try to work around other LM Youth program’s schedules based on their published schedule when we set dates. We also have to secure gym time and volunteer evaluators for these dates so once they are set, they are set. We work to accommodate late arrivals, etc as much as possible. As a program we reserve the right to hold one off tryouts due to unforeseen or unavoidable situations.
If your son or daughter cannot make their grade time slot for the 1st tryout or cannot make that day at all, please email lmpantherbasketball@gmail.com and we will try to work out another option. If we do not receive an email prior to the 1st tryout, we cannot make an accommodation.
Q: How do you decide who makes the athletic teams?
A: We have multiple volunteer evaluators that evaluate each player based on their fundamental skills in the 1st tryout. If they show the needed skills to warrant a 2nd live tryout, we invite them back the following week. We then evaluate skills, teamwork, understanding of the game and coachability in the 2nd tryout. As an evaluator team, we then decide on athletic team rosters. We look to fill each level based on numbers and who can be successful on that level of Athletic A, B or C. We really look to see that each player can be successful. We work to avoid placing players at a level in which they may struggle and be frustrated with basketball. At times we may have players that have the skills but don’t make the team due to numbers. We also have players that may not be quite ready for an athletic team but we need them to complete the roster and hope that the additional practice and games will develop the additional skills needed. We may have multiple teams at the same level in a grade and assign teams based on fit. We keep athletic rosters at 10 or less players. These decisions are always difficult by the evaluators and are taken seriously. Each year we have players make an athletic team that didn’t the previous year and vice versa.
Q: How do I volunteer to coach?
A. You can apply here to coach once we open the season: http://lmyba.com/coaching/. We rely on volunteer coaches to lead all of our teams. Our athletic team coaches are decided by the board. Our rec coaches are chosen based on need. The number of coaches we choose depends on the numbers of players registered at each age group and available gym time for practices. We must have a head coach in place prior to ordering uniforms and registering our teams with the league. At times, we have rosters without a coach and will communicate with the parents on the team that we need a volunteer to be the head coach or they won’t have a team and their registration fee will be refunded. All head coaches must pass a background check prior to being fully approved to coach and must abide by the CPYBL and our Code of Conduct.
Q: Why is my son or daughter not on the team I requested? Why can’t I request my son or daughter to be on the same team as another player?
A: Effective for the 2023-2024 season, we will only accept Yes or No requests for the prior year coach. See above on ABOUT THE LMYB RECREATION TEAM PROGRAM on how teams will be formed. We 1st try to balance teams to avoid one team in an age group having 11 players and another 7. We also have to take into consideration the number of teams we can accommodate with gym times for practice and fill with coaches. We also receive head coach requests and that coach does not volunteer or volunteers after rosters are already formed and the team their son or daughter is on, needs a coach. At this point we cannot restart the process. In the past we’ve had 100 or more team requests in a season which makes it very difficult to complete teams. We also continue receiving requests after teams are already communicated and to accommodate is nearly impossible. We have a tight timeframe to order uniforms and register teams with CPYBL, so to reset rosters makes the process very difficult and time consuming.
Q: When will my child find out which rec team he is on?
A: Roster information is sent to the head coach typically by October 20th and will communicate with the parents on the team shortly after. Around that timeframe we also complete practice schedules and coaches will communicate that as well.
Q: What are the volunteering requirements of parents?
A: Our biggest volunteering need is coaches, see above for the process. Our second biggest need is for gym monitors/site supervisors. Effective for the 2023-2024 season, all teams will be assigned one day at a home gym to site supervise during the season. Prior to this, each team was responsible to site supervise the game prior to their game, every home game.This new process will simplify scheduling and hopefully allow coaches the freedom to focus on their team. We ask that non coaching parents partner to volunteer to cover these games on the assigned day. We only need one person per game. More information to come as we get closer to the season start. Other than that the rest is handled by the board and coaches!
Q: When a parent/coach is suspended or removed from the league by CPYBL and/or LMYB, why is the child also suspended or removed from the league when the child did nothing wrong?
A: This is a measure by the league that was needed to reduce and deter the amount of parent/coach inappropriate behavior during and after games. Our program itself has had many issues with this over the past few years. Our actions (positive or negative) as parents have direct and indirect consequences on our children. We must conduct ourselves in a positive manner and be respectful of our community, our opponents and officials. Our children lose the most when we choose to behave in an inappropriate manner.
Q: Can we reuse our uniforms?
A: We are looking into ways to be able to reuse uniforms for a 2nd year in the future. However, this can be a significant challenge with players changing teams and multiple players having the same number. This is something we will work on throughout the season and update everyone if we come up with a solution.