Dear Parents and Athletes,

Thank you for your patience in this process.  Our goal is always to support our athletes and “Do the right thing!” for them. 

Over the last few weeks it has been a little hectic with Open Gyms leading up to Tryout Weekend.  Thank you to the parents who took the time to bring their athletes to these events and support P.L.A.Y. Basketball.

This year 405 athletes tried out for Traveling Basketball in both the boys’ and girls’ traveling programs.  These athletes were evaluated by evaluators from the High School Coaching staffs along with external, non-Parent experienced basketball resources who all invested a great deal of time, and who took this responsibility very seriously.  A big thank you to the Varsity Coaching staffs, External Evaluators, and Parent Volunteers who ALL helped make this Open Gym and Tryout process a huge success.

IMPORTANT POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT:

• Players not listed on the roster: for those players, who did not make a team, you will be moved to In-House and be refunded the difference in cost minus a administrative processing fee.  Do not get discouraged.  Keep playing, work hard to improve your game, and tryout again next year.

• For the “B” and “C” level teams, the talent was spread out evenly between those teams.

• Uniforms:   Orders will be shipped to your home during the week prior to their first basketball tournament. 

• Coaches: will be announced as soon as we have completed the selection process.  

Below are the rosters for the 2018-2019 Traveling Basketball season. 

Thank you for getting your children involved in basketball this year.  We look forward to a great season.

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Important Dates:

Important dates for the program can be found below and details about both traveling and in-house can be found under the tabs on the left and the FAQ. The following are some key dates to be aware of:

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Please like our Facebook page to stay connected with P.L.A.Y. Basketball.

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Timberwolves & Lynx Basketball Academy

2018 Prior Lake MEA Clinic

Thursday, October 18th
9:00AM-12:00PM 
Boys & Girls
Grades: 2-4

Thursday, October 18th
1:00PM-4:00PM 
Girls & Boys
Grades: 5-7

Location: Prior Lake High School (Blue Gym)
7575 150th St. W
Savage, MN 55378

Cost: $50

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2018-2019 P.L.A.Y. Basketball Volunteer Opportunities Available: 

In-House:

• 7/8th grade boys – (Propose new position)  

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The SSC is one of the top conferences in the state.  Come cheer on the Prior Lake High School Basketball Teams.  All PLAY Basketball players get in free when they wear their jersey and are with a paid adult.

Half-time P.L.A.Y. Team Scrimmages for most 2015-2016 Boys and Girls Home Basketball games are being planned once again this year

Prior Lake Varsity Players Assigned to Each Traveling Team for the Season

**To Learn more about what's going on with the Prior Lake Boys & Girls Varsity Programs, Click the Team links on the left tool menu bar.**

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What is the Purpose of Athletics?          
Why do we want our child to be involved in a sport?

When Parents are asked these questions, many will respond with one of these:

• Promotes Confidence
• Provides Exercise
• Experience Team Concepts
• Build Individual Skills – Learn the Game
• Create Understanding of Winning and Losing
• Get to participate with Friends, meet new kids and have Fun
• Learn about Sportsmanship and being a good citizen
• Relationship of Effort and Accomplishment

All those are good reasons for being involved in sports- somewhere along the way Winning and the scoreboard often becomes the only measuring point for many.
* When was the last time you asked your child a direct question on the purposes above ...
 

• Did you gain Confidence at Practice/Game today? How?
• Was that a good workout?  Can you push yourself more?
• Do you like being part of a Team?  Why?
• What did you learn today – did you try something new?
• What have you learned about Winning (or) Losing?  Why?
• Did you enjoy the practice or game?  Why?
• How was Sportsmanship Shown (good and bad) today?
• Did you give your best effort? How did that feel?

- Instead we usually ask… Did you win?, How many points did you score?
It becomes Scoreboard related only !!!  It is OK to ask that – but wait until after you ask a few other questions.

P.L.A.Y. 's IMPACT Committee - in accordance with a variety of resources has come up with a series of topics and over the Basketball Season will look to address one topic each week.
 

Coaches-  review these topics with your players (even if for only 5 minutes, before, at or after practice) and try to make points on each topic as a "Weekly IMPACT Resolution".
It is sometimes hard to stay on a topic for a whole season - but to put them in small nuggets and work on those areas - it will help with the big picture.
It will help answer why you want your child in athletics.
The items and questions above will be covered in weeks to come.

Parents - be sure to preview with your player so that when the Coaches speak on it - they are aware of the topic. Then at the end of the week Coaches and Parents can check back with the players to see what they have learned on the topic of the week. (Again 5 minutes)

The IMPACT Committee would like you to take a look at the WEEKLY TOPICS - BELOW and use that as your IMPACT Resolution – Talking Point for at least a week. Revisit one if needed as the season goes on.
What and Why I.M.P.A.C.T. - check out the definition and how it relates to sports in the document at top of the page.  
        I.M.P.A.C.T. - I Make Positive Actions Count Today*

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P.L.A.Y. is currently planning on offering Intramural Basketball for Grades 7th-8th after school at HOMS from 2:30-4pm. Registration Ends Nov. 3rd.

We are hoping to be able to form a League with Burnsville and Lakeville - but that is in the infant stages of planning at this point - more information should be available in early Dec.  Games in BAC are on Saturdays starting anywhere from 8am - 2pm  usually lasts about 1 hour.

The days of the week will mostly be Tue & Thur , but due to some school events on some of those days we will need to mix in a Couple Mondays. This program has been 99% boys. The competition in the BAC League is comparable to  C level Middle School Basketball.

This year we won't be able to get started until Jan. 5th and will try to get 12-13 dates in between Mid Jan and end of Feb.  We will play in a year end tourney about the first weekend of March.

The school gets their gym times first and then we are secondary - so they have some events during our dates so it has to move around some.

We have enough players for two teams currently but hope for a few more registration to get us to 3 teams. The number of teams will also depend on Volunteers to step up to coach from 2:30 -4 on practice date and on Saturdays for games. Cost is still under review, but will come in around $100.

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Did you see one of our coaches following the double-goal coaching principles?  Do you have a youth athlete in a PLAY sport or did you compete with a PLAY team?

It's important that our coaches get your feedback directly, but we want to hear your feedback too so that we can continue to provide the best possible experience for our athletes.

Please take a few minutes to let us know what you think.
http://links.playinfo.org/feedback

To Learn More about the Double Goal Coaching and Parent Involvement go to the "Positive Coaching" Page under the HOME page - left side. Are you a Positiive Double goal Parent? Learn how to move your athlete into a 'Triple Impact athlete'.
Help your athlete become a Master of ELM - Effort, Learning, Recover from Mistakes

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Coaches & Officials Sportsmanship tally program

Please use the appropriate form below for entering your information:

• Coaches URL   (Coaches use this site to enter information):
• Coach = https://coach.questionpro.com
• Officials URLs   (Officials use this site to enter):
• Official = https://official.questionpro.com

Be sure to completely fill out your survey to get proper credit for the information.

Coaches that do not reply - may not be considered for coaching positions in the future. Officials must reply in order to be paid for their games. Thank you for your support of the Team Sportsmanship award program.