Winter Travel

The Winter Travel Season Begins in November!!!

*This program follows COVID-19 protocols & procedures including temperature screening, enhancing sanitization, capacity limits, etc.*

Final tryouts held at High Rise Headquarters the weekend of October 24th – 25th!

Register Now – Girls

Register Now – Boys

PROGRAM GOALS

1. To prepare players for the highest level of basketball possible
2. To establish a winning program in the FCBL and ZG
3. To provide young players with a positive and encouraging environment to learn and excel at the game
4. To teach life lessons and skills through basketball such as discipline, focus, work ethic, teamwork, respect, etc.
5. To eliminate politics, favoritism, and other non-basketball factors from the team and program dynamic
6. To develop winning mentalities

PLAYING TIME

There is no guaranteed playing time on Winter Travel teams and it is at the sole discretion of the coach. While we aim to assemble teams with a full roster of impact players, sometimes, players do not acclimate to team systems, coaching, or increases in talent level. In this case, some players may receive less playing time than others. With this being said, those who are not excelling as fast as others will be worked with, mentored, and coached to get on the same level as others. We are NOT in the business of discouraging kids from the sport, however, playing at a high level consistently is one of our main goals as a program.

PRACTICES

Practices will be held 1-2 nights a week throughout the season (Nov-March). Practices will be high energy and intense! Our philosophy is to make practices chaotic and hard so games end up being easy. Games should be a reward from hard practicing. All of our staff has played or coached at a high level so we try to mimic certain aspects of that style to a degree. Practices will include team drills, skill work, competitive drills, offensive and defensive breakdown and schemes, and scrimmaging. There will be no practices during public school holiday recess & winter break.

Practice Locations

High Rise Headquarters (75 Third Street, Stamford, CT)

TEAM RULES

Rules should be strictly abided by to avoid penalties that include running, not starting, not playing, or dismissal from the program.

• No Drug or Alcohol Use (focus on older grades)
• No cursing at any time
• Players must be dressed appropriately for practices and games
• Players should be dressed and ready to go, on site, 15 minutes prior to any practice or game
• Players or parents must notify coach of any absences
• Players will not be allowed to play in recreation leagues during the season (school team is ok)
• Players will not complain, make faces at, or taunt referees
• Players must sprint to help up any teammate on the ground
• Players on bench must stand up and high-five any player coming out of a game to the bench

COMMITMENT LEVEL

Players must be fully committed to team, practice, and game obligations. Outside of school and academic conflicts, parents and players should do their best to make sure they can attend all team events. In order to build a successful program, especially in basketball, there must be consistency in attendance to build good habits, understand team philosophies and systems, know plays, create team chemistry, and most importantly, to get better! If you have any questions regarding what constitutes as full commitment or what outside activities would not work with our schedule, please ask!