Introduction of the U10 Boys Bedford House League

 

Year after year U10 Boys continues to be the fastest growing division in Bedford Basketball. Last year Bedford had over 100 U10 boys register. While this is fantastic to see so many young boys wanting to play basketball it has created a number of organizational, developmental and resource challenges. 

 

This year Bedford will select six U10 boy's teams to play in the MBANS League. The remainder of the players will play in Bedford's first ever U10 Boys House League.

 

A house league is an internal league that is run just like MBANS except it will be exclusive to Bedford players. The Bedford House League will have teams and the boys will have access to a minimum of two training sessions per week plus one game. There will be an end of season tournament and championship. The games will be officiated and each team will have their own coach.  Players will each get a custom jersey that they will keep and some games will be streamed and posted online. 

 

The U10 boys continues to be the fastest growing division in Bedford Basketball. Last season we had over 100 U10 boys. While this is fantastic for the growth of the sport it does mean that as a basketball association with a focus on youth development we need to ensure every child is getting the best basketball experience possible. U10 should be solely focussed on skill development. This can best be achieved by more practice time and more competitive games between better balanced teams. This can best be achieved in a house league that we manage. 

 

This will give our players access to two practice times a week plus one game. Rather than practice in smaller groups or teams, we will have trained coaches available to run weekly sessions with a focus on skill development. Each team will be assigned their own coach but with a greater focus on fundamental skills such as, dribbling, shooting, passing, rebounding, and offensive and defensive concepts. Having our own league also allows us to move players around throughout the season to ensure competitive balance. Players will get more practice time and more games than through the MBANS schedule.

 

The feedback from coaches and parents of players from Bedford's U10 Balanced teams is clear. The main concerns are the lack of practice time, the commitment of the players and the development of the players for future teams. (Will my son improve enough to make a rep team next season?) 

 

The house league will provide a few choices for players to come to practice. A player can attend all practice sessions or come to only one. This will be helpful for those multi-sport players whose basketball is not their main sport. 

 

The sessions will focus on player development in a fun but competitive environment. It will also keep the focus on skill development and resist the urge to teach the kids "plays", and instead teach them how to play. At this young age there is no way to know how big, athletic or strong a child will be as they grow up. This format will ensure they have a solid foundation to reach their fullest potential.  

Players will be placed on teams. Each team will have a coach. The coaches will attend the practice sessions and players will learn the skills of spacing, moving without the ball, scoring and how to play defense. Those will be the focus of the games. There will be no scores (as per u10 rules) so the focus will be on development possession by possession, game by game, and not the numbers on a scoreboard. A schedule will be developed and posted on the website.

 

There will be a minimum of training sessions per week. (Days, times and locations TBD.) One night a week will be our games night, there will be scorekeepers, officials and parents will be encouraged to attend. Players can attend any of the training sessions that they want. 

 

Bedford continues to grow and the U10 boys group is one of the biggest. This is the first phase of exploring the benefits of a house league. If it's successful it could be a format for other age groups. 

 

Yes, any team can be invited or register for other tournaments.

 

Tryouts will be held as usual. However, this year Bedford will only be registering six teams to play in MBANS.

 

Change can be uncomfortable but the current system is not giving all our players an equal and positive experience. We need to change the way we are doing things. The goal of the house league is to better develop our players and our coaches for future basketball success. Our new coaches will get the opportunity to be part of the program with an extra level of support, in the hopes that as their children continue in the program they will also be better able to coach at the higher levels. 

 

This is new, there will be bumps along the way but we are committed to providing the best experience possible for our U10 boys as they start their basketball journey. We will learn many lessons and we hope you will join us in making this a positive experience.