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Q: Why does Palos Verdes Basketball Association not offer leagues for the younger grades?
A: Unfortunately, PVBA is significantly limited in the amount of gym time we are able to secure from the school district. With only three available indoor facilities in Palos Verdes, we must share this space with several high school teams who take priority over a community organization. As a result, we are only able to get enough gym time to be able to offer the 9 leagues we field each winter.
Q: Is it true that 3rd Grade Boys can sign up now and play in the 4th Grade Boys League?
A: After careful study of registration trends in the past few years, the PVBA Board of Directors has decided to open up registration to any interested 3rd Grade boys for the 2009-2010 winter season.
Q: My child is very talented at basketball. Can I register them for a higher grade than they are currently in so that they get better competition and development?
A: No. It is the policy of the PVBA Board that each player must play with their classmates and not be allowed to "play up". While we understand that some players are very talented and will consistently outperform their peers, in the interest of consistent application of policy we do not allow this practice. Similarly, we do not allow highly talented girls to switch into the boys league for accelerated development.
Q: What is PVBA's Wait List policy?
A: The PVBA Board of Directors has instituted a "cap" on open registrations, beyond which registrations will still be accepted but the players will be placed on a Wait List. This cap is as a direct result of both limited gym time and available volunteer coaches. Players will be notified at the time they register if they are placed on a Wait List. We will clear players from the Wait List when there are sufficient players to form a complete team of 8 players and there is an available volunteer coach. It is our intent to clear players from the Wait List prior to the tryouts whenever possible. However, all registrants, whether they have been cleared from the Wait List or not, are expected to attend and participate in the tryouts. Players will be cleared from the Wait List in the order in which they registered. Players may remain on the Wait List until the winter holiday break begins in the event that another player drops from the league or suffers a season-ending injury. Once the winter holiday break begins, the Wait List will be cleared and those registrations will be refunded.
Q: When should we expect to hear from our child's coach?
A: For winter leagues, following the tryouts in mid-October there will be a draft held by each league's coaches in which the teams will be formed. To allow sufficient preparation time for the coaches, these drafts are generally held in the last week of October. We ask each coach at the conclusion of the draft to contact their new team members as soon as possible, so you should expect to hear from your coach no later than the first week of November. If you have not heard from your child's coach by November 8th, please contact your Grade Coordinator, whose name and email address can be found on the Board of Directors page of the PVBA website.
For summer leagues, there are no tryouts nor is there a draft. Instead, teams are formed by the Grade Coordinators with an effort to maintain balance across the teams. Due to the tight time constraints with the end of school, baseball all-stars, football/cheerleader practices and family vacations, these teams are generally not formed until the week prior to the beginning of games. You should not expect to hear from your child's coach until as late as the weekend prior to the start of the summer season.
Q: When are practices held?
A: It is up to each coach to schedule practices as they see fit for their team. PVBA does not provide any guidelines or restrictions as to practice times, frequencies, durations or locations with the exception that PVBA practices must take place on PVPUSD property for insurance reasons. In our experience, most coaches schedule at least one practice per week, though generally not more than two per week during the season. Because we are unable to offer indoor practice time, these practices are usually outdoors and either after school or on weekends. In summer season, most coaches hold a get-acquainted practice prior to the start of the season, but generally do not hold offsite practices once games begin.
Q: I would like to make a special request for my child to play with his/her friends or for a specific coach. How can I do that?
A: In the interest of establishing and maintaining competitive parity and opportunity, we regret that we cannot meet special requests such as these. All players enter a draft process which makes them available to all coaches so that no team is able to unfairly pre-arrange a "stacked" team.
Q: I forgot to sign my child up for PVBA and now it says registration is closed. Can I still get them in?
A: Unfortunately, due to capacity constraints in our Boys Division, we are unable to offer unlimited registration. Each league is capacity-controlled and will consist of 8 players per team. We offer a Regular Registration period of approximately three weeks duration - any child who is registered during this period will pay our standard league fees and is guaranteed a spot in the league for the upcoming season. At the conclusion of our Regular Registration period, we offer an extended Late Registration period of approximately five days - the online registration process is still active during this period, but any registration during this period is subject to a late fee and will be automatically placed on the Wait List as non-guaranteed registrations. Anyone who contacts PVBA following the close of the Late Registration period seeking to register their child will be accepted on a strictly space available basis, and will be processed manually as the online process will be closed during this period. Any registration that is accepted during this period (between the close of Late Registration and the tryouts) will be subject to an additional Late Fee over and above the Late Registration fee.
Q: I registered my child for PVBA but now we need to drop out. What is your drop/refund policy?
A: If this situation develops, we ask that you please notify us via email at pvba@cox.net as soon as possible so that we may offer an open spot in our league to a child who is on the Wait List. Any registration that is cancelled prior to tryouts will be refunded in full. A player who chooses to drop between the time of the tryouts and the Draft Night will receive a refund of half of their registration fee. Following team drafts, any player who drops for any reason (including season-ending injury) will not be entitled to a refund.
Q: My child has a commitment to another sport and can't make the tryout dates that PVBA offers. Will that be a problem?
A: It is extremely important that each child attend a tryout session for PVBA so that their capabilities can be evaluated in the context of their peers and teams can be formed that are reasonably balanced from a competitive standpoint. While we recognize that most kids have a number of competing interests and priorities, there is a significant amount of volunteer time and effort that goes into establishing each league fairly, and so we ask that you make every effort to attend your scheduled tryout session and consider PVBA to be one of those priorities. PVBA reserves the right to cancel a registration of a player who fails to attend their scheduled session or fails to notify the Grade Coordinator of an unavoidable absence, and to offer that spot in the league to a player on the Wait List.
Q: I bought a PVBA Registration at a charity event. How do I go about using it to register my child?
A: Each year, the PVBA Board authorizes a limited number of registrations to be offered at fundraising auctions associated with the PVPUSD. Should you have bought one of these in support of the school district, we thank you and instruct you to send us an email at pvba@cox.net notifying us of your intent to use the registration. Because our online registration system does not allow registrations to be processed other than through a credit card, we will process your registration manually.
Q: I would like to offer my services to PVBA. How do I do that?
A: Each season, PVBA employs a limited number of high school aged boys and girls from Palos Verdes to serve as floor officials and scoreboard operators for our games. If you are experienced with the game of basketball and knowledgeable of the rules and are interested in being considered for the available jobs, please contact Randy Karp, our Vice President of Administration, to express your interest. Randy can be reached at karpinsurance@yahoo.com. |