I wanted to take the time to thank everyone for coming out to evaluations. We were ecstatic at the turnout and energy in the community surrounding basketball. As we begin this week, we'd like to address a few questions regarding placement, practice space, and communication. 

 

First in terms of placement, Centered Basketball's main focus is to make sure every student athlete is placed at the appropriate level of competition and game play. We are working hard to make sure we honor this commitment. 

 

With this goal in mind, we have made significant efforts in staffing six competitive teams. That being said, we realize many athletes may have been hoping for a higher placement. Currently, we are in the process of growing to make sure we provide enough coaching and teams to meet this need moving forward. We recognize that some of the players could potentially compete at a higher level. During evaluations, though, we had a high volume of kids tryout for a limited number of teams. As a result, our staff chose kids based on our evaluations and specific needs for the makeup of each team. If your child did not make his/her hoped for team, please do not take that a knock on your child. As we grow, we are confident that we will grow in the number of travel teams and developmental programs. As a matter of fact, if you or someone you know have basketball experience, wish to help basketball grow in a fair and purposeful way, and want to volunteer as a coach, please contact us; we'd be thrilled to talk with you. Along this same line, we will continue to work hard to make sure we increase the number of quality coaches we have. In the meantime, please express to your child that they are a quality player and individual who will be given a great opportunity to improve basketball and life skills regardless of the level they have been placed.

 

In addition, I also want you all to know that we are making sure we can provide the best practice times as possible. We have been fortunate enough to partner with C3, and we are renting space from schools. This, however, is limited during certain times of the year. Ideally, we'd love to see a Centred Basketball facility in order to accommodate all times. Since that isn't a reality yet, we are doing our best to work with all student populations but we understand that these times may not be ideal. Every effort if being made to accommodate parents and player schedules within reason.

Finally, we have received a few questions regarding communications. As we roll out our website and registration process we ask you to remain patient. As with any technology, there is a learning curve and some bugs to work out. We have sent out an email asking coaches to personally contact each of you regarding practices and skill sessions. If that does not happen, please call the Centred Basketball phone number at 814-424-4978 and we'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

The reason for this organization starting is simple: we love basketball and we want the kids in our community to have the opportunity to grow, develop, compete, and learn from the game as we have. The groundswell of support has truly been overwhelming and we can't thank you enough for your support. It has been a fast start to something that we hope continues for years to come.

 
If you have any questions (and we do mean any) please contact us and we will get to you as soon as we can.

 

All the best,

Bill Zeruth