Hello ACYBA House families.  Welcome to the 2018 basketball season! We are so happy you have chosen to spend your winter playing with the Armstrong-Cooper Youth Basketball Association!  House league teams in grades 3-8 are forming.  I think the biggest delay is finding coaches for some teams.  If you have any interest in coaching, please contact your respective commissioners. For the Boys Program, please contact Steph Schmolze at SJSchmolze@Comcast.net and for the Girls Program, please contact Mike Frie at Michael.Frie77@gmail.com

In our Developmental Program, kids K-2, our groups are forming and information about your groups should be coming soon from Steph or Mike, as well, if you have not already seen it.  We have paid coaches at that level to help teach the kids the fundamentals.  We started this program a couple years ago and are really happy with how it’s progressing. 

I also wanted to send this note to give some information about the program and a few changes as to our games.  This year, all of our boys and girls, grades 5-8 will be playing in leagues outside of our ACYBA program.  The 5th grade boys and all of our girls in grades 5-8 will be playing in the Osseo-Maple Grove Basketball Association league.  Information about that league is posted on our ACYBA website: www.armstrongyouthbasketball.com.  The boys in grades 6-8 will play in the Northwest Metro Rec league against teams from other school districts.  Steph Schmolze can give you more information about that league.  These changes give the kids an opportunity to play a few more games, but also play against other teams.  In years past, due to the number of teams in our programs, it felt like some teams were playing each other too many times.  So, we’re giving our kids this different opportunity this year.  We’ll see how it goes.  We’re happy to accept your feedback on how it goes. 

Also new to this year is volunteer time.  We are asking all families, grades 3-8 in our House program to help with our fundraising.  We are not going door to door selling anything.  Our only real fundraisers for the Association are through the two travel tournaments we host.  The money we generate through the girls “Armstrong-Cooper Thanksgiving Bonanza” the week before Thanksgiving and the boys “Armstrong Boys Classic” in February go to help fund all aspects of our program, particularly including our House program.  We have a lot of expenses in both the travel and house program that the flat registration fees are not adequate to cover.  So, we rely on the money generated by the tournaments. This year, we’re asking the girls house families to help with the girls tournament and the boys house families to help with the boys tournament.  It is our hope that the non-coaching volunteer requirement will be 2 hours or less per child in the program – we’re still finalizing the plan. Regardless, 2 hours is way more reasonable than Little League or Hockey!!  We hope a nominal amount of your time will really help us have successful tournaments, and then in-turn successful programs.  Also, you’ll be able to attend the tournaments for free to cheer on friends and classmates and see what the travel experience is all about. More information about how and when to sign up will be coming soon.  Typically, an on-line link to select shifts  is posted about a week before the tournament. Please keep an eye out for it and sign up to help out where you can. If you have any questions about volunteering, please contact me directly at MikeSkram@Comcast.net.

Finally, we have a number of ACYBA Board positions coming open at the end of this year, including the House Commissioner positions.  If you have any interest in taking on a role in the leadership of this Association, we’re happy to have you.  Please contact me and we can talk about the specific positions and general time commitments.

Thanks again for being part of this program.  We’re all volunteers here, and we can’t provide a quality experience for the kids without your commitment to the program and involvement.  You all help make the experience a positive one for the kids.

Sincerely,

Mike Skram
ACYBA President
MikeSkram@Comcast.net

House Basketball Programs 2018-2019

Kindergarten Basketball

• Nov 5th – Dec 21st (7 weeks)
• $95 ($45 on scholarship)
• Co-ed
• Two times per week (Tuesday & Thursdays) at local elementary school gyms
• Skills, Drills, and 3 on 3
• Includes:
  • 1 Jersey
  • 1 Paid instructor

Boys 1st & 2nd Grade Basketball

• Nov 5th – Jan 31st  (11 weeks)
• $120 ($70 on scholarship)
• Boys Only
• Mon and Wed, either 6-7 PM or 7-8 PM at local elementary school gyms
• Skills, Drills, and Mini-Scrimmages
• Includes:
  • 1 Jersey
  • 1 Paid instructor

Girls 1st & 2nd Grade Basketball

• Nov 5th – Jan 31st  (11 weeks)
• $120 ($70 on scholarship)
• Girls Only
• Tue and Thu, either 6-7 PM or 7-8 PM at local elementary school gyms
• Skills, Drills, and Mini-Scrimmages
• Includes:
  • 1  Jersey
  • 1 Paid instructor

Boys 3rd & 4th Grade House Basketball

• Nov 1st – Feb 22nd (14 weeks)
• **NEW for 2018/19 Season** Players will be required to attend a MANDATORY evaluation.  This will help us form equally skilled teams and allow for more even game competition. The MANDATORY evaluation will be scheduled in early October.
• 3rd and 4th grades will use 27.5" basketballs
• $130 ($80 on scholarship)
• Boys Only
• Meets twice per week, weeknights
  • 1 x Practice, either 6-7:30 PM or 7:30-9 PM, at local district gyms
  • 1 x Game on Wednesdays or Thursdays, either 6-7:30 PM or 7:30-9 PM, at local district gyms
• 10’ Hoops
• Includes:
  • 1  Jersey
  • Referees
  • End of year tourney
  • Medals and Trophies

Girls 3rd & 4th Grade House Basketball

• Nov 1st – Feb 22nd  (14 weeks)
• **NEW for 2018/19 Season** Players will be required to attend a MANDATORY evaluation.  This will help us form equally skilled teams and allow for more even game competition. The MANDATORY evaluation will be scheduled in early October.
• 3rd and 4th grades will use 27.5" basketballs
• $130 ($80 on scholarship)
• Girls Only
• Meets twice per week, weeknights
  • 1 x Practice, either 6-7:30 PM or 7:30-9 PM, at local district gyms
  • 1 x Game on Tuesdays, either 6-7:30 PM or 7:30-9 PM, at local district gyms
• 10’ Hoops
• Includes:
  • 1  Jersey
  • Referees
  • End of year tourney
  • Medals and Trophies

Boys 5th & 6th Grade House Basketball

• Nov 1st – March 2nd (15 weeks)
• $140 ($90 on scholarship)
• Boys Only
• Meets three times per week
  • 2 x Practice, either 6-7:30 PM or 7:30-9 PM, at local district gyms
  • 1 x Game, Friday night or Saturday mornings
• Includes:
  • 1  Jersey
  • End of year tourney
  • Referees

Girls 5th & 6th Grade House Basketball

• Nov 1st – March 2nd (15 weeks)
• $140 ($90 on scholarship)
• Girls Only
• Meets three times per week
  • 2 x Practice, either 6-7:30 PM or 7:30-9 PM, at local district gyms
  • 1 x Game, Saturdays.  Teams are part of the OMGBA league.
  • Game Location: TBD
• Includes:
  • 1 Jersey
  • End of year tourney
  • Referees

Boys 7th & 8th Grade House Basketball

• Nov 1st – March 2nd (15 weeks)
• Boys 7th & 8th Graders play in the NWSBL (North West Suburban Basketball League).  Throughout the season teams will play in 3 tournaments.  Teams are formed based on grade and if multiple teams per grade, evenly skilled teams will be created based on a MANDATORY evaluation that will be scheduled in early October
• $140 ($90 on scholarship)
• Boys Only
• Meets three times per week
  • 2 x Practice, either 6-7:30 PM or 7:30-9 PM, at local district gyms
  • 1 x Game, Saturdays
• Includes:
  • 1 Jersey
  • End of year tourney
  • Referees

Girls 7th & 8th Grade Basketball

• Nov 1st – March 2nd (15 weeks)
• $140 ($90 on scholarship)
• Girls Only
• Meets three times per week
  • 2 x Practice, either 6-7:30 PM or 7:30-9 PM, at local district gyms
  • 1 x Game, Saturdays. Teams are part of the OMGBA league.
  • Game Location: TBD
• Includes:
  • 1 Jersey
  • End of year tourney
  • Referees

HOUSE DIBS REQUIREMENTS:  Each ACYBA House League family is asked to donate a nominal amount of their time (up to 2 hours) per each grade 3-8 player in the program to help operate the two traveling basketball tournaments, which are the entire program's only fundraisers. The girls' tournament is in mid-November and the boys' tournament is in mid-February. Your volunteer effort is the only way we can continue to offer quality house and travel programs for the kids.  More information on volunteering will be provided upon registration and team formation.

House Friend Requests
* For 3rd-4th grade boys only and all 1st-5th grade girls playing house basketball, you may request a friend to play on the same team (available on the registration form). Both players should make the friend request. We try to accommodate the requests, but placement is not guaranteed. We will only consider 1:1 pairings. In an effort to balance the teams, we will not be able to honor 3-way or 4-way friend requests. Therefore, friend request that don't have a perfect 1:1 match will not be considered.

Scholarships - Need based scholarships are available ($50 off).  Please contact the House Commissioner for more information.

Important House Basketball Documents