BLUE JAY BASKETBALL CLUB PHILOSPHY

Blue Jay Basketball Club's basic ideology rests on the principle that all youth should have the opportunity to play basketball, while providing the more skilled players the opportunity to develop different aspects of their game then if they are on a select club team.

 

The Club Is Broken Into Two Primary Seasons: 

1) League Seasons 2) Tournament Season.

League season is designed to have a level playing field for all levels of athletes with equal playing time. Tournament season is designed to be more competitive in nature for the more developed and skilled athletes. Athlete playing time will not be equal on tournament teams.

League Season

League season is designed to have a level playing field for all levels of athletes with equal playing time.

• The Club strives to make each league team as equal as possible.
• This means there will be a few players with more experience and skill at this time on each team as well as a few that are beginners to the game of basketball.
• Equal teams provide the opportunity for the more experienced players to work on leadership, accountability & unselfishness by putting them in some different situations than they have faced before.
• The players just starting learn persistence and commitment because as they learn the skills of basketball, they can get better quickly by working on them.

 

League season helps build the basketball school programs by getting increased numbers of participants playing basketball.

• We started this model as opposed to the groups of tournament teams in the past as the chances of 7-8 kids playing together all the way from 3rd grade through high school are slim to none.
• We need more kids in each grade playing the game of basketball.

 

The sooner players learn the skills and rules of the game, the better off the program is long-term.

• Our junior high coaches can start teaching and coaching from a higher base level as the kids all know the fundamentals and rules.
• This allows them to progress quicker through practice and finish the season at a higher level.
• It stretches the better players skills at this time as they may have to be handling the ball more on their team, guarding someone in the post, learning how to handle a double-team, etc.
• It builds a base for those kids that are just starting out so they have a chance to fall in love with basketball and work on those sport specific skills.
• The majority of Bondurant-Farrar's most successful teams have had 4-5 seniors contributing in some way - that means we need to have about 25 kids playing when they enter 7th grade.

 

We have no idea who will be the best players when the kids get to high school. The more kids that are given the opportunity to play and learn at the youth level gives the high school programs the best chance of ensuring all kids were given an opportunity to play the game of basketball PRIOR to school sports beginning.

 

Tournament Season

Any boy or girl in 3rd – 6th grade is welcome to be considered for the tournament season.

• This will be more competitive in nature as we will be playing other schools.
• Playing time during the tournament season is not guaranteed to be equal.

 

• The tournament season may look like any of the below ways.

 

• The Board of the Blue Jay Basketball Club will determine which way is the best for each individual grade level based on number of players who want to be considered for tournament season, number of coaches, and current skill level of those who would like to be considered for tournament season. Just because one of these ways is chosen for one year does NOT mean the same way will be chosen in each subsequent year. The Board will make that decision each year.

 

#1 - Just have one tournament team for a grade level.

• • This would be the case if there aren't enough players to make more than one team or the current skill level of some members aren't ready to rotate into tournament play.

#2 - Have 2 teams and the current skill level of the top kids in the grade are VASTLY superior to the current bottom kids in the grade.

• • In this scenario, all of the kids in the grade level will practice at the same time with all of the coaches present.
  • Approximately the top one-third of the grade level will always play in tournaments
  • The bottom one-third will always play in a league or lower level tournaments (selection helped by the Board)
  • The middle one-third will rotate between playing in tournaments and league.
  • This ranking will be determined by the Board and will be done each year - it will not carry over if this is the same way we do tournament teams in consecutive years for a grade level.

 

#3 - Have 2 teams and the current skill level of all the kids wanting to be considered for the tournament season is relatively the same.

• • In this scenario, all of the kids in the grade level will practice at the same time with all of the coaches present.
  • The Board will pick 2 teams that are as equally split as possible.
  • These teams would play 4 tournaments separately
  • The Board would also pick an "A" team for these teams that will then play 2 more tournaments.
  • Again, there would be no carryover from year-to-year if this is the same way we do tournament teams in consecutive years for a grade level.

 

In all of these scenarios, there may be some kids not selected to participate in the tournament season because of number of kids, number of coaches, or current skill level.

 

• The same life lessons mentioned above for the league season apply to the tournament
  season.
• There is an even bigger emphasis on sportsmanship as we will be representing Bondurant-Farrar to other communities around the state at the tournaments we play in.

 

The Club strongly believes our tournament selection process is the best way to develop all players.

• Developing our youth as a group is more important for the long-term success of Bondurant-Farrar's high school programs than winning youth tournaments.
• The club process allows for more shots, more ball-handling, more time guarding a better player on an opposing team, and more playing time for our entire youth programs.
• The process is designed to develop our youth so they continue to play basketball in Jr. High, High School and have a chance at a Post-High School career.

 

The Club also strongly believes this approach keeps more kids playing basketball than by constantly breaking into an A, B, and C team. This needs to happen at some point and we believe that to time is appropriate around around the time players enter the junior high level.

• The sooner you start to put kids on an A, B, and C team, the earlier they will quit playing.
• We track these numbers at our school to back that up. From 7th grade to 8th grade, numbers dropped by almost 15%.
• From 8th grade to 9th grade, numbers dropped by just shy of 50%.
• Studies have shown throughout high school numbers further drop from freshman year to senior year by another 50% as kids will specialize in another sport, find a job, decide they don’t want to make the time commitment, etc.
• On average it takes 4-5 seniors contributing to have the most successful seasons – they means we need to have about 25 kids playing when they start 7th grade.

Our final concern regarding choosing A, B, and C teams at an early age is in coaching.

• We have found that those who volunteer to coach rarely believe their child belongs on a B or C team.
• Thus, by doing this we run into the potential issue of having 8 kids that would like to play more basketball but can’t because we don’t have a coach.