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Frequently Asked Registration Questions
Here are the questions we hear most often.
General Questions
- When do you play games?
- I want to enter two email addresses when I register my child. How do I do that?
- What is your refund policy?
Select Program Questions
- How is my child's league age determined in the select program?
- Which zip codes are assigned to the Great Falls Basketball select program?
- Do select players really have to show a DMV ID card? Won't a birth certificate or passport work?
- Does my son/daughter need to attend all the tryout sessions for his/her age group?
- Can you tell me if it is possible for my son/daughter to try out for both the Select Program & House Program? And, if he/she makes it into the Select Program, can he/she play in both leagues?
- What are the priorities in the select program? How is it different from the house program?
- My son/daughter tried out for a select team but was not chosen. Is he/she automatically registered for the house league?
House League Questions
- My child can't practice on three or more days. The registration system only allows me to specify two days. What can I do?
- How do I get my child on the same team with his/her friend(s) and/or classmate(s)?
- I would like my child to be challenged. Can he/she play up in a higher group?
- I'm a coach. How do I schedule practice time? How do I choose a time that works with my schedule?
- Please discuss the prohibiton on designating assistant coaches pre-draft in the house league.
- This is my child's first time playing basketball. Will he/she be "lost" and/or relegated to little playing time?
- When do you play games?
- House league games are scheduled by Great Falls Basketball and are played on Saturdays and Sundays. Select league games are scheduled by FCYBL. They have traditionally based division 2 team games on Saturdays and division 1 team games on Sundays.
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- I want to enter two email addresses when I register my child. How do I do that?
- Our registration system can only accommodate one email address per registrant. We understand the desirability of that feature but our current system isn't set up to handle that today.
We use the email address primarily to send notices about upcoming events. If you have more than one child playing in the league, one way to get two email addresses into the system would be to associate one address with one child and the second address with the other. It's not an ideal solution but it would make sure league-wide announcements arrive in both mailboxes. Other than that, we don't have other options to offer at this time.
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- What is your refund policy?
- Refunds will be granted to any registered player who chooses not to participate in Great Falls Basketball up to two weeks prior to the house league draft being conducted. Details are here.
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- How is my child's league age determined in the select program?
- For select teams, age group is determined by the player’s age on October 1. There is a grade exception to allow kids to play with their own grade. It requires a letter from the child's principal be submitted to the county attesting to his/her grade. A child may try out for a team based on his/her age OR his/her grade as long as they understand that spaces for older children trying out for their grade level teams are limited to 2.
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- Which zip codes are assigned to the Great Falls Basketball select program?
- Select teams will be comprised primarily of players from zip codes 20170, 20192, 20194, 22066, and 22182. These zip codes have been allocated to Great Falls Basketball by the Fairfax County Youth Basketball League (FCYBL). Select teams are also permitted to roster up to 2 players from outside of these zip codes under the zip code exception rule.
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- Do select players really have to show a DMV ID card? Won't a birth certificate or passport work?
- Our select teams play in the Fairfax County Youth Basketball League, and all FCYBL players are required to provide a copy of a State of Virginia DMV ID card as proof of age. This is the only identification accepted, and players will not be rostered without it. Players may participate in tryouts without providing a DMV ID card, but if chosen for the team the player must provide a DMV ID card. To learn how to obtain an ID card, visit the DMV Website.
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- Does my son/daughter need to attend all the tryout sessions for his/her age group?
- Select basketball is very competitive. A player needs to demonstrate he/she is a strong player on several dimensions. The coaches are looking for advanced basketball skills as well as athletic ability (speed, quickness, strength, stamina, jumping ability, ...). It is to a player's advantage to attend all the sessions and participate fully.
If your child is going to miss any of the tryout session, please make sure the coach is aware of that so he/she doesn't misinterpret your child's absence as a lack of interest.
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- Can you tell me if it is possible for my son/daughter to try out for both the Select Program & House Program? And, if he/she makes it into the Select Program, can he/she play in both leagues?
- On the subject of simultaneously playing Select and House, it is the rule that a Select player may not play on a House team. With the best interests of the players (and teams) in mind, the main driver is that Great Falls Basketball has no control over the scheduling of the Select games. Invariably, when there is a scheduling conflict with the House team game, the player would most likely choose the Select game. It is logical to assume that the Select player is usually the best player on the House team and the resulting absence is unfair to the House team.
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- What are the priorities in the select program? How is it different from the house program?
- To better understand our expectations and priorities for the select and house league programs, pleaser review the Select Program Guidelines and our Expectations for House League Coaches for perspective.
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- My son/daughter tried out for a select team but was not chosen. Is he/she automatically registered for the house league?
- Players not chosen for a select team are automatically rolled over into the house league. No addition action is required on your part.
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- My child can't practice on three or more days. The registration system only allows me to specify two days. What can I do?
- The league requires coaches to draft players who do not have a conflict with that coach's practice time slot. We allow each player to specify two "can't practice" days. Our registration system will capture only two "can't practice" days for each player.
Typically before each draft, we divide the list of players up amongst the coaches and call each player to confirm his/her "can't practice" days. When called, you should explain any restrictions beyond what is captured in the registration system. This information will be provided to all the coaches at the time of the draft.
As a matter of policy, the league will honor the two "can't practice" days per player. Beyond that, it is up to the discretion of the drafting coaches whether to honor additional requests.
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- How do I get my child on the same team with his/her friend(s) and/or classmate(s)?
- We can appreciate the desirability of having your children play on the same team with a friend(s). We need to balance that with our efforts to create teams that are evenly balanced from a competitive standpoint. Given the small number of players on a house league basketball team (7-8 players), two good players paired together can make a significant competitive difference. So our policy is to not pre-arrange team placements. We don't pre-arrange placements to accommodate car pool request. In fact, we don't even allow coaches to choose their assistant coach before the draft (thereby choosing another player).
What we can do is note your desire to have your child on the same team with another child. We'll provide that information to the coaches at the draft session. Historically, coaches have tried to honor these requests when they can, but we can't guarantee it.
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- I would like my child to be challenged. Can he/she play up in a higher group?
- Great Falls Basketball uses a grade-based placement system and does not permit play up or play downs in the house league based on age, size or subjective factors. Players of unusual size or unusually strong talent should consider trying out for the select program. This policy was put in place for the 2002-2003 season and remains in effect.
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- I'm a coach. How do I schedule practice time? How do I choose a time that works with my schedule?
- For the 2008-2009 season, we hadover 130 house league teams and 12 select teams to squeeze into four gyms Monday through Friday 5:00-9:30pm. It's impractical to gather preferences up front and work out a schedule that pleases everyone with numbers this large. Our approach is to assign a set of practice slots to each group of teams. At the house league coaches meeting, the coaches draw numbers out of a hat and choose from the available practice slots for their group. There is usually some trading among and between groups to resolve conflicts, but somehow it all works out.
In terms of practice time slots, we usually try to keep the younger kids earlier in the evening. The counter balance is that when we put the older kids in all the late slots, we have middle/high school kids practicing basketball until 9:30pm then catching a 6:05am bus to school the next morning. So there's some trade-offs we need to consider in designing practice schedules.
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- Please discuss the prohibition on designating assistant coaches pre-draft in the house league.
- In the house league, we strive to assemble competitively balanced teams. Given the small number of players on a house league basketball team (7-8 players), two good players paired together can make a significant difference in terms of competitiveness. So we do not allow coaches to select their assistant coaches (in effect selecting the assistant coach's child) prior to drafting their team.
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- This is my child's first time playing basketball. Will he/she be "lost" and/or relegated to little playing time?
- The house league basketball program is a purely recreational league. We focus on skill development and having fun. We keep teams small (7-8 players) in order to give everyone lots of playing time. We also have mandatory participation requirements so that all kids, regardless of skill level, get plenty of playing time. For example, everyone must be on the court for at least half the game -- required. More detail on our rules can be found here.
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Got a question not answered above? Send mail to our general information account. |
Last updated: October 18, 2009 |
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Date: 6/18/2013
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