Welcome to the 2020-2021 Basketball Season

As we move towards the traditional start of the basketball season, the NYBA Board of Directors would like to give an update on our plans for making the best of this troubling time. Our guiding concern is the health of the kids and their families. We are using state health guidelines as our North Star to determine how to best schedule and manage our leagues this year. Since this pandemic changes day-to-day, we will are assessing costs and how we would like the season to proceed. We ask for your understanding and support as we try to provide the best basketball season we can for our kids.

As of today, it does not look like we will have access to the Newtown public school gyms. Many of them are being used by the schools to support the social distancing requirements during the school days and all the schools are closed for cleaning every Wednesday. Our current plan is to more heavily use NYA courts for all games, where possible, and we continue to explore other location options in nearby towns. Unfortunately, having NYA as the only location for games and practices will mean higher costs for families, reduced court times, and more varied schedules.

Bitty (Pre-k and K)

Getting kids off to a good start with basketball has always been a priority in NYBA. Even in this challenging time, we think it is as important as ever. For our youngest participants we are going to move to a clinic format. Our plan is to hold around 5 sessions over the winter.

Rec Program

The Rec Program will begin in January, but we are looking at possible dates in December, and will utilize NYA for all games. Due to the limited amount of courts available at NYA, we will be unable to host Rec team practices – Rec will be one game a week per team only. Additionally, also because of the limited court time, we can’t have all games on Saturday. Games will be possibly played throughout the week. While our hope is to cluster certain nights for certain leagues to give families some consistency of schedule, this may not be always possible.

Travel Programs (Grades 4-8)

Your registration is very important here, so please register so that we can prepare for tryouts, if possible. We are going to try and make teams for all kids that want to play. This year, we plan on participating in the FCBL, but we will also compete in other competitive Travel Leagues. In addition, we will try to get the teams registered into AAU tournaments in the fall and early winter. We realize it is quite possible that as people move indoors, cases will rise and the season may end early. By booking tournaments this fall we will give kids the most chances possible to play. Costs for the season are currently not known. Once we know how many kids will be playing, we will send out a proposed schedule with costs. If you choose not to have your child participate at this point, just email us and we will take your child’s name off the list.

Senior League

Games for Senior League will be at NYA, HS (if allowed), and Edmund Town Hall. The number of games may be limited due to available court times, but we won’t know exactly how many games until we know how many kids register. Costs will likewise be based on the number of games scheduled.

Monitors, Scorekeepers, and Jr Referees

We will continue to provide part-time work opportunities. For those interested, please state your interest and we will provide additional guidance and training. This is only open to high school students.

Conclusion

In the world of basketball, where the fight for spots in gyms is a battle every year, COVID rules and regulations will only make things tougher. We will enforce safe distancing, wearing masks, and other safety precautions and this will be reflected in our Covid Health Plan submitted to the town. In addition, we will Include COVID-19 prevention messages about behaviors that prevent spread of COVID-19 where appropriate throughout our season. Remember, it is very important to register as early as possible. Please assist us in getting the message out on the pending season. Thank you for your support and understanding as we try to kick-off the season.