Registration is OPEN for our k-3rd grade league

For information please contact:
Upward League Commissioner
Justin Miller 
or
North Main Pastor & Upward Coordinator
Melissa Hickman at   or (office) 724-332-7813.

Registration 

The registration link is: https://registration.upward.org/UPW85082 

Online registration will be open until October 8th and the cost is $85 plus an optional $14 for basketball shorts or a cheerleading mock turtleneck. There is a sibling discount of $15. We know that this pandemic has created some hardships for some of our families and we do have scholarships available. If you need a scholarship, please contact me for more details. We strongly encourage everyone to register online (makes our lives much easier) but in case that is not your cup of tea, I attached a registration form that you can fill out and either drop off or mail to the church.    

 

Players must be at least in kindergarten to participate and we are not allowing basketball players to “play up”. However, if your 3rd grader decides to play for their school team, we will allow them to play in our 4th-grade league so they don’t miss out on the action.

Uniform Sizing 

Attached is a sizing chart as you will be asked to give your child's size while registering. There are separate sizing charts for cheerleading and basketball so please make sure you are looking at the correct one. I think the uniform vendors are the same this year so you can use last year's uniform as a guide. I will be able to order extra sizes so if your child grows another 10 inches over the next two months, we will be able to swap them out for a different size. Attached you will find our uniforms for this season (Bulls and Magic) so you can accessorize.

BASKETBALL JERSEY SIZING GUIDECHEERLEADING TOPCHEERLEADING SKORT

Evaluations 

Evaluations are mandatory this year for Basketball only.  Evaluation Day will be Saturday, October 14th and you can show up anytime between 9 am and 2 pm.  It went pretty quickly last year as we eliminated the sizing station for uniforms. For our new families, evaluations are not tryouts. They are an opportunity for your child to become familiar with our gym and go through a series of stations so we can make the teams as even as possible. If all goes well, your time commitment should be less than 30 minutes.   

Why are evaluations so critical? Upward surveyed all their coaches and players and found that 85.5% of coaches prefer balanced teams to playing with friends. Parents were 75-80% in favor of balanced teams. If we find some of our teams seem "stacked" after the first game or two, we may choose to try to even out the teams.  

If you absolutely cannot make the 14th, please contact me so we can make other arrangements.

Volunteers  

We need basketball and cheerleading coaches!! The strength of our league has always been our coaches. If you love God and if you love kids then you are qualified to coach in our league. We make it easy for you to be a successful coach by helping you every step of the way. If you are a returning coach and you have a friend you would like to help you out, please let me know so I can pair you up. You can register to volunteer online at https://registration.upward.org/UPW85082/volunteer or email me directly. We also know many of you have someone at your church (or maybe yourself!) who would be great at giving halftime devotions. Please feel free to pass along their name and contact information.  

Coaches Meeting (coaches only) 

We will have a mandatory coaches’ meeting on Tuesday, October 24th from 7-9 pm. We will be meeting in the Life Center this year. During this meeting, we will be finalizing rosters, picking practice days and times, handing out gym keys, and going over all our expectations as coaches. Did I mention that this meeting was mandatory for coaches?

Practices 

There will be one- 1 hour practice per week and your practice day and time should not change from week to week. Please make sure your child has used the restroom before practice to keep players from using our facilities as well as taking coaches away from valuable practice time. Have your child bring their own basketball and water bottle...both with their name on it. We will provide extra balls and water if a child forgets. Kindergarten and 1st graders will use a 27.5” ball and 2nd and 3rd graders will use a 28.5” ball as a reference but any ball will suffice for practice. Your coach will be in contact with you after the coaches meeting on October 24th. If you do not hear from your coach by October 28th, please let me know as there may have been a communication error that we need to correct (wrong email, phone number, etc.)  The first week of practice will be October 30th- November 3rd (no practice on Halloween). Your coach may choose to practice on Saturday, November 4th. 

Games 

We will be playing games cross-court as we have done in the past and with two games being played simultaneously. Games last about an hour. Game times will start anytime between 8 and 3-4 pm depending on the number of teams. Cheerleaders will cheer in the mornings. There will be no practices or games the week of Thanksgiving and Christmas week. Our last game (and awards ceremony) will be on January 13th.   

Snow 

Our policy is if Butler Area School District cancels school or afternoon activities, then practices for that evening will be canceled. Game day cancellations will be determined by 7 a.m. Saturday morning and will be communicated through Facebook and e-mail. There will be no snow make-up games this year unless our end-of-the-season awards ceremony is canceled. If Butler has a scheduled day off of school, there will be practice that day. 

Covid  

To have a successful and healthy season, we will continue to monitor current guidelines and do our best to keep our facilities clean and sanitized. Unfortunately, even with our best safeguards in full effect, there is still a risk of Coronavirus entering our facility.  Please know that, by registering your child, you are assuming the risk that you may potentially be exposing yourself or your child to covid. We will strongly encourage social distancing, hand sanitizing, etc... Above all else IF YOU ARE FEELING SICK...PLEASE STAY HOME!! We cannot emphasize this enough. Covid symptoms include headache, cough, loss of taste or smell, fever, etc... please stay home if you are feeling any symptoms, even the ones not listed. Missing a game or practice at a young age is not a big deal as compared to keeping each other safe and healthy, so STAY HOME IF YOU ARE FEELING SICK!! 

4-6th Graders 

Registration for the 4-6th grade season will open by mid-December. Evaluations will be in the last week of January and practices will start at the beginning of February. Last year it worked out that our season started after the school seasons were wrapping up. We try to have our season end before spring sports start. If your child is in 3rd grade and is playing for their school, they can play in our 4th grade league. 

 

Looking forward to another great season! However, every year we get parents asking for their kids to play after we start games so please share this email with anyone you think would love our program so nobody is left out.

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For more information please contact:

Upward League Commissioner
Justin Miller 

or

North Main Pastor & Upward Coordinator
Melissa Hickman at   or (office) 724-332-7813.

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