How do I find out about Tournaments?

Get your AAU cards. If the tournaments register themselves you will be sent that information. If they don’t register themselves they probably wont get enough teams anyway and you will be left high and dry it happens all the time. Don’t forget the web site.

What happens when I complain about a coach’s unsportsman like conduct?

We take this very serious. The first complaint on a coach is usually filed the second complaint is filed however that guaranties that I will be in the gym watching that coaches next games. Even on the first complaint after checking into it the coach can and has been asked not to return. This happened last season and the year before. In one case the team came back with another coach. In the other case the team decided to forfeit the rest of their games and go to another league were they are still playing and getting technicals.

How many kids can I have on my team? Can I borrow kids from another team? Can they play up a grade? Can they play down a grade? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Anything is fine in league play. Have fun and work on your game. Remember everything is by the book in Tournament play.

What are the rules?

We play straight girls high school rules at all grade levels. Except 1.Technical fouls are a automatic 2 points and the ball.2. 20 min. running clock stop clock last 2 min of each half.3. Overtime 1 min.

The rules are different in some gyms how come?

We should all be on the same page. However each gym has the right to run their gym their way. Coaches this falls under the sportsman like conduct rule. Please gracefully except their gym rules. Please let me know of anything that is out of line and I will correct it. Gym managers please make copies of your rules and give them to each coach when they arrive at your gym.

How come they started the game clock before my team was ready?

Our games must start on time for the benefit of all. Everyone involved has tight schedules and count on their games finishing on time. Some have ferries to catch, soccer games, other commitments ect. Our games always have and always will start on time. Games will start on the hour every hour. If your team is not on the floor ready to play the clock will start with out you. You will find a score sheet in your game pack please fill this out in numerical order and make ten copies. When you walk in the gym you can place it on the scoring table and you are ready to play.

What are AAU nationals and how can my teams go?

There are two separate National tournaments. Nationals and National Invitational Championships (NIC). AAU was founded in 1888. Today it boasts a nationwide membership of 500,000 it encompass 58 Associations. Each Association (or State) will host a Regional Tournament. The winner (and sometimes 2nd and 3rd place or even 4th and 5th) of this tournament earns the right to go to Nationals and represent their Association (State). All other teams can go to the NIC tournament and represent their State. (This tournament will be at the AAU headquarters at Disney World in Orlando Florida. I highly recommend you try this it will be the experience of a lifetime for your kids. Disney World is pretty fun also.

As the chairman of women’s basketball for our Association, I will host the Regional Tournament. This tournament will be held locally this Spring. The tournament will be broken into two classes. 1 age level and 2 grade level.1 Age level for those wanting to qualify for Nationals and 2 grade level for those wanting to go to NIC or just wanting to play in the biggest and best tournament of the year.

We said we wanted Saturday only games but you gave us one Sunday game. Why?

Remember this league is by far the biggest around. Usually with over 100 teams from all over the state. Most all of these teams put in special schedule requests. For this to work for all, everyone must have a little flexibility. Some teams want Saturdays only some teams want Sundays only. Not always but some times each team has to cross over one or two times to make it work.

We are a Seattle team and signed up for the Central Division but you made use go to Tacoma for one game. Why?

Same reason as above. Everyone must travel at lest one weekend for this to work. Don’t forget we make the teams from Tacoma and Blaine travel to Seattle to play you. In this way you get to play most of your games locally and see teams from all over the State without driving all over the State every weekend.

Remember the more flexibility you give me in your schedule requirements the better I can make your schedule. Restricting me to just Sundays for example usually means more travel for your team so I can meat your Sunday only requirement.

We are a 6th grade team and we won every game last season. Do you have better teams this year?

You need to play up one grade level. Our top 6th grade teams are all playing at the 7th grade level.

We are a 6th grade team we lost every game last year. Do you have weaker teams this year?

You need to play down a grade level. We have teams coming from very small privet schools. Playing more games against better teams makes them a better team. However loosing every game by 40 points isn’t doing anybody any good especially the team that’s winning by 40 points. Play down a grade level until your skills catch up to the other teams or until your school gets bigger and you have more than 10 girls to pick from. Remember that there are no win/loss records kept here. Lets try to keep things balanced for everyone.

Do you keep standings in the league?

No. With the new web site we will keep track of the winn\loss records. There are no first place teams. Games are traded. Teams are playing games to get better not to win. Teams barrow players. The records are not completely accurate. They are however a good way to see about where you are at in relation to other teams in the league. They will also help me to schedule in the next league.