House Coach FAQs

Due to the league's size, it's impractical to accommodate everyone's scheduling preferences. Instead, each group of teams is assigned weeknight practice slots. During the mandatory pre-season House League Coaches’ Meeting, coaches select their practice times from the available slots. Grades 3-12 have one hour-long practice per week, which can be scheduled between 5:00 PM and 9:30 PM at a local elementary school. 

In the House League, the goal is to create competitively balanced teams. Since basketball teams are small (7-8 players), pairing two strong players can greatly impact competitiveness. Therefore, coaches are not allowed to choose their assistant coaches prior to the draft, as this would effectively allow them to pre-select the assistant coach's child. 

Our organization aims to provide a safe, fun basketball experience while fostering leadership qualities in our youth. To this end, youth coaches are welcomed and encouraged to join our House League coaching staff. To be a head coach, a youth must have served as an assistant coach for at least one year and be in at least 10th grade for the season they wish to coach. Youth assistant coaches must be in 9th grade or older. 

While our organization values and supports volunteer coaches, it also acknowledges the challenges of coaching both a competitive Select team and a House team due to the potential for scheduling conflicts. Select games are scheduled independently from GF Hoops and can be held anywhere in Northern Virginia, making it difficult to avoid clashes with House League games. Therefore, it's recommended that Select team head coaches serve as assistant coaches for their child's House League team to avoid conflicts. If someone is appointed as head coach for both, they must have an assistant coach for each team to manage any ensuing scheduling conflicts. 

The league appreciates parents and community members who coach multiple teams and strives to accommodate their schedules. Multi-team coaches are given first choice of practice slots before the pre-season Coach’s Meeting, and efforts are made to avoid conflicts between their regular-season games. However, game conflicts may still arise, especially if games are rescheduled, or during end-of-season tournaments.  While the league will try to avoid them, it cannot guarantee conflict-free scheduling.  Each team should have a designated assistant coach ready to step in should scheduling conflicts arise.