Garden City Basketball - Hoops Info! Applications are on our website

www.gardencitybasketball.org

or you may signup online.

In response to the numerous emails/phone calls we have received regarding the time our program will operate next season; the GCAAhas inappropriately "announced" their winter schedule as 8am to 4pm. The GCAA does NOT have a village permit for this timeframe. The village of Garden City allocates time/space based upon enrollment normally in the middle of November. Where Garden City Basketball and the GCAA have alternated mornings and afternoons this does NOT guarantee that the GCAA will have one block of contiguous time for their program at the StPauls fieldhouse. It is the position of Garden City Basketball that our program will operate in the afternoon next season. The afternoon is NOT an evening starting time. We have requested a noon to 1 pm start time for our program but again...village permit times will not be established until much later this year. To reduce annual "confusion and doubt", we would accept an 8am start time and eliminate alternating morning and afternoon times if that is what the village prefers. Whatever time we are assigned, our program will continue to have the K-1-2 clinic first, then our girls program, and end with our boys program.

The focus of Garden City Basketball is our intramural program. Our greater mission is to provide a wonderful experience for all of our participants so that a love of the life long game of basketball will be nurtured and grow.

Our goal is simply to have a great program that is our version of fun for children. Our teams have equal playing time with no tension and no pressure. Our teams are established randomly and then are validated by coaches. Drafts can and do result in unfair teams. Unless teams are drafted then randomly assigned to coaches to remove the fact that league organizers and coordinators generally know the players better, draft teams may be unbalanced. This can be seen in the standings of any league where there are undefeated teams [again, generally the coordinators team who knows the players the best] and other teams that don't win any games. Our program uses the same reversible dazzle cloth jersey for all teams so that we may move players even during a game to ensure everyone has a fun time. Garden City Basketball has no disparity in ages in our program. The age groupings used are the same ones that were used when Coach Skramko ran the GCAA program. Our program has had 400-600 children each season which is more than enough to run a quality program. We are proud members of the JrNBA/JrWNBA and the AAU and follow their rules, policies, and procedures.

The regular intramural game day season is expected to start Saturday, December 5th and run through March 6th, 2010.

Our registration fee is still $50. We do not have "incentive" pricing to signup early. We do not believe in nor will we ever charge late fees. Although enrollment in a program sets how much space is allocated, we are not interested in "market share" for an intramural children's program.

The Garden City Basketball intramural program is held in the St. Paul's Field House. We offer:

* Saturday and Weeknight Clinics for Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade Boys & Girls. Our nationally recognized clinic uses 8ft baskets and stations of different foundational skills & drills. Professionals recommend staying at a lower basket as not to create poor shooting mechanics in younger players. Basket height at a young age needs to be set for all players not for the limited few who can use the higher basket. If a second grader would like to "play-up" on a 3rd/4th grade intramural team we always have made this accommodation.

* Boys intramurals games for teams in the 3rd & 4th grade and 5th & 6th grade (teams are formed in late Nov).

* Girls intramurals games for the 3rd & 4th grade and 5th grade and higher (3rd /4th grade teams formed in late Nov)

* Boys intramural "Friday Night Lights" for the 7th & 8th and 9th & 10th grade

* Boys & Girls 3rd Grade and higher weeknight clinics

* A variety of special activities like the JrNBA Skills Challenge, NBA Nation, and NBA Cares events

"Friday Night Lights - Streetball" is our Boys 7th thru 10th Grade program that is held in town on Friday Nights. The older boys have now enjoyed 9 years of pick-up with Island Garden refs and Coach Skramko at Stewart school. This is by far the longest running program of its type for this age group in the village. This program was originally formed 9 years ago as an "anti-drug and alcohol" alternative. There were teams, uniforms and formal games. The offering has evolved over the years to what it is today. A format where teenage boys play lots of basketball the way they want to play. Last season the boys generally played about 90 minutes of hoops followed by half court "knock out". All of our other programs have their games on Saturday.

The quality of the weeknight clinics held by Garden City Basketball are some of the best that you will find. The focus at our clinics is on skills, drills, development, and fun. We held at least 6 clinics for each of our 3rd grade through 7th grade participants (that's NINE hours of instruction) last season. Our K-1-2 clinic supplied over THIRTY hours of instruction! We believe that Garden City Basketball is second to none in the quality and amount of training we fairly allocate to our participants. For our weeknight clinics, we utilize AAU/Island Garden Instructors. Guest appearances of college players, players from Christ the King, Chaminade, and Garden City High School players have added to the caliber of our sessions.

Looking for summer clinics, camps and extra training to improve your game? Check out our website. The George Bruns camp at the Island Garden looks to be very exciting!

If there are any questions, please contact John Skramko at jskramko@optonline.net or 746-9659.