Fellow Basketball Parents:
On August 1, the Wayzata Boys Basketball Association (WBBA) opened registration for the 2010-2011 season. There are no fee increases this season; in fact, we have been able to lower our fees for some of the House programs. Be sure to sign up early and take advantage of the Early Bird Discounts.This letter is to provide an update on important information for the coming year. Please forward this information to any other families with K-12 boys that might be interested in one of our programs. Thank you to those who provided feedback on the year-end survey. Overall, the feedback was positive and provided suggestions that have helped us make a few enhancements to our programs.
Player Development
In response to requests from coaches and parents to add more technical instruction for our players, and after conducting an extensive search for basketball training programs, we are pleased to announce that we have formed a relationship with Fundamentally Sound Athletics (FSA). FSA will assist the WBBA in player development by running our traditional clinics for K-2nd grade as well as clinics for players in grades 3-8 in all programs. These clinics will supplement the instruction given by our volunteer coaches. FSA will also give priority to WBBA players who are interested in individual instruction. We are very excited about what FSA brings to our program. We will periodically provide information on additional instructional opportunities that are available at FSA. It should be noted that WBBA does not have a financial relationship with FSA and that no FSA professionals will be part of our tryout process.
Travel
Our first year of 4th grade travel was successful and we plan to continue with it again this year. We plan to form up to three 4th grade travel teams this season. Teams will be selected using a tryout format that is similar to the method used to select teams for grades 5-8. Our 4th grade teams will play fewer tournaments. Accordingly, the pricing for 4th grade travel will be less than grades 5-8. There will be no major changes to the travel program for grades 5-9. A complete travel schedule will be posted on or before October 1, 2010.
We will be hosting a mandatory meeting for travel parents on October 27 from 7:00-8:00 PM in the Central Middle School Auditorium. The purpose of the meeting is to share information on our travel program, answer questions, and detail the tryout process.
This year, in conjunction with FSA, we will be offering free skills evaluation for any boy who participates in the travel tryout process but is not placed on a travel team. At the conclusion of the evaluation the professionals from FSA will meet with player and/or parents to discuss opportunities for development. We hope that this evaluation will provide the type of detailed feedback that parents frequently desire in that situation. Any boy who is not placed on a travel team will automatically be placed on a house or southwest team as appropriate without any further tryout or evaluation. The fee difference will be refunded.
Our invitational tournament will be held February 18-20, 2011. As in the past, there will be a volunteer requirement with a buy-out option for those who are not able to volunteer.
Tim McKee will continue to lead our Travel Program this year.
House
There will be no significant changes to our house programs this season. We will again open our clinics to kindergarteners this season. In addition to a fall skills clinic, we will offer a developmental league for 2nd Graders this winter. This league will be skills based and include games on a weekly basis. Our 3rd grade league and 4th-5th grade league will play in the winter. House league games will be officiated by high school age kids. We ask that you remember that this is a developmental opportunity for them as well as for the players. Brian Sweeney will continue to lead our House Program this year.
Southwest
There will be no significant changes to the Southwest league this year.
Sheri Peterson will continue to lead our Southwest Program this year.
Scholarships
As in the past, we will be offering scholarships to those with significant financial need. Our goal is to make sure that financial concerns do not prevent any boys in our community from being involved in basketball. We expect that demand for scholarships will increase based on the current economic environment. The WBBA has limited financial resources and we do not believe a general fee increase is warranted to fund scholarships. Therefore, if you are able to make a donation to the scholarship fund, please consider doing so during the registration process.
For the 2010-2011 season, scholarships for the travel program will be limited to a maximum of 50% of the program fee. For the Southwest and House programs we will require a minimum payment of $50
from all participants and scholarships will be available to cover the balance of the fee (as needed). In cases of extreme hardship, we will work with families to develop payment plans or find alternative
sources of funding.
We have posted a scholarship application form on our website (wayzatabasketball.com) that should be completed and submitted to me (bmallaro@deloitte.com) in advance of the registration deadline.
Other
I frequently receive questions and comments about our travel tryout process. We all recognize that this is a stressful and emotional time for many families. Our tryouts are run by volunteers with significant
basketball knowledge and experience and with no family relationship to any players involved in the grade being evaluated. Each player starts the tryout process with a clean slate and no consideration is
given to which team, association, or coach he played for in the previous year(s). Coaches have absolutely no input in the process. We reserve the right to consider player commitment issues that have occurred in the past. I have been personally involved in the tryout process in the past and believe it is as rigorous and as fair as possible.
We will also be offering Wayzata basketball apparel for sale on our website this season. Look for that information in the near future.
We look forward to a great 2010-2011 season. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to contact me at (612)-382-5477 or e-mail, bmallaro@deloitte.com or any other WBBA board member (see wayzatabasketball.com for a listing).
Sincerely,
Brian Mallaro
WBBA President
