Basketball

Eligibility

All participants must be registered members of St Paul Parish. Regardless of skill level, no players will be admitted to the program until they reach the 4^th grade and all players must play at their respective grade level. No play-ups, no play-downs, no exceptions!

Registration

All participants must be registered by the published deadline that is typically in mid-October. Anyone not registered by the deadline will be wait-listed and only admitted to the program if permission is granted by the commissioner. There will be no refunds for anyone registered who then withdraws after their respective assessment/tryout.

Teams

Assessments and tryouts for all grades will take place in early November. Players will be placed on one of several teams formed for each grade. No player is cut regardless of grade or skill level. Teams are announced within 1-2 days after assessments/tryouts are completed.

4, 5, & 6 Grade Assessments

All players in grades 4-6 are divided to form equal strength teams. Assessments are held for each grade to enable the coaches and commissioners to evaluate the talent to ensure competitive balance amongst the teams. Specific requests to play for certain coaches and/or other players will not be honored.

7 & 8 Grade Tryouts

Tryouts are held for all 7^th and 8^th grade boys and girls immediate after the completion of the SP football and volleyball seasons. These typically occur in early Novmeber. In accordance with diocesan policy, the more advanced players are placed on the competitive team(s) and the lesser skilled players are placed on the recreational team(s). All players make a team, no one is cut. Both 7^th and 8^th grades will field a minimum of one competitive team each. The remaining teams in each grade will be placed in a league most conducive to their skill level. This determination will be made by the basketball commissioner at the completion of tryouts after consulting with the evaluators.

Tryouts are mandatory for all players desiring to play on the competitive team. Players electing not to tryout will be placed on the recreational team. The basketball commissioner reserves the right to appropriately place injured players that are unable to tryout and/or those absent for uncontrollable reasons based on past experience. Only under extreme circumstances will additional tryouts be held for injured or ill players. Tryouts are directed by the basketball commissioner and players are evaluated by individuals from outside the St. Paul basketball program. A parent's desire to coach will have no bearing on the placement of any player unless the player elects to participate on a recreational team.

Competitive teams will practice more frequently (typically 3 nights/week) and play additional non-league games in and around the greater Columbus area. Competitive teams will play against higher level competition in addition to preparing for High School basketball. Recreational teams will practice 1-2 nights/week and play a standard 10 game diocesan schedule. The main focus is to give players a fun experience in a basketball environment.

Minimum Playing Time (per player)

4^th grade – one uninterrupted quarter plus an additional 3 minutes. 
5^th grade – one uninterrupted quarter plus an additional 3 minutes. 
6^th grade – one uninterrupted quarter plus an additional 3 minutes. 
7^th grade recreational – one uninterrupted quarter plus an additional 3 minutes. 
7^th grade competitive – 6 minutes divided over any two periods.
    For tournament games, participation in two quarters with no minimum time.
8^th grade recreational – one uninterrupted quarter plus an additional 3 minutes.
8^th grade competitive - 6 minutes divided over any two periods.
    For tournament games, participation in two quarters with no minimum time.

Team Breakdown

For 7th and 8th grade, St Paul will field at least one competitive team. If enough players are registered, additional teams will be formed and placed in either the competitive or recreational division. The placement will be determined by the commissioner based on the talent level displayed during tryouts.

Practice Exclusions Dates

• Sundays before 2:00pm (mass) and after 5:00pm (confession)
• Thursdays 2:00-4:00 grades 5-8 (choir)
• Fridays 3:00-9:00 grades 7-8 Jan & Feb only (ski club)
• Saturdays 4:00-6:00 (mass)

AC/Gym Closeout Dates

• Mondays thru Fridays 3:00-4:30 gym (ACE)
• Mondays 4:30-7:45 (PSR grades 1-5)
• Thursdays 2:00-4:00 AC (choir practice)

7th Grade Basketball Tournament

St Paul hosts a competitive 7th grade basketball tournament between Christmas and New Years Day. Parents of the players on the competitive team(s) are epected to help run the tournament by staffing the concession stand and admissions table.

Games

Regular season league games are usually played on Saturday or Sunday. Each team in grades 4-6 will be placed in a division with other diocesan schools. Each division is assigned to a diocesan school gym where the majority of their games will be played. St Paul PAA does not control which teams play in certain gyms. That is decided by the diocese staff.

7^th and 8^th grade recreational teams play most games in the larger diocese grade school gyms (some games in St Paul AC). 7^th and 8^th grade competitive teams will play mostly in diocese high school gyms and also play several weekday non-league games (home & away) throughout the season.

Grades 5-8 will play in a diocesan sponsored season ending tournament. The 4^th grade season ending diocesan tournament was discontinued after the 2010/2011 season.

Practices

All teams are allocated practice times at St. Paul. Competitive teams practice more frequently than recreational teams. When possible, younger grades will practice earlier than older grades on school nights. The head coach of each team has the option to sign up for additional practices on the weekends and during holiday breaks.

Exact practice schedules cannot be determined until all coaches are identified. Here are the known practices days and practice exclusions:
Sundays: no practices permitted before 2:00pm or after 5:00pm. All teams in grades 4-5 will practice at St Paul.
Mondays: no practices after 6:00pm for teams in grades 4-5 with rostered PSR attendees.
Tuesdays: no practice limitations.
Wednesdays: no practices after 6:00pm for teams in grades 6-8 with rostered PSR attendees.
Thursdays: no practices for grades 5-8 until 4:00pm due to choir.
Fridays: all teams in grades 4-6 will practice at St Paul. Due to ski club, grades 7-8 will not practice.
Saturdays: St Paul facilities available from 8:00am-4:00pm and 6:00pm-9:30pm for practice by all teams (coaches request only). No practice during evening mass from 4:00pm-6:00pm. No practices during the day starting in early Decemeber once league games begin.

Coaching

Head coaches are selected by the basketball commissioners and assistant coaches are selected by the head coaches. All coaches must meet all the coaching requirements to be eligible. For grades 4-6, parent coaches are used. For grades 7-8, the most qualified individuals are used with a strong emphasis placed on non-parents coaching. If no non-parent coaches are available for the competitive team(s), the head coach will be selected from the team parents but not until after tryouts and the team(s) are formed. If enough recreational players are available to form more than one team, they will practice together until enough head coaches can be identified. When possible, individuals may only be head coach of one sport at a given grade level per school year.

Uniforms

All players will be provided a game jersey and game shorts. Any individual electing to wear T-shirts underneath the uniform tops will need to provide their own. All uniforms issued by St. Paul must be returned at the end of the season.

Rules

Ohio High School basketball rules apply for all grades. Amended boys rules and girls rules specific to diocesan basketball can be found on the Columbus Diocesan Recreation webpage.

Concessions

All player parent(s) need to volunteer at least one weekend day during the season to run the St. Paul concession stand. Depending on the number of games hosted at St. Paul, teams may be required to volunteer more than once.