The Fast Break Club is a youth program for boys in grades K-12 that was formed to teach the game of basketball and provide educational and competitive opportunities. Through coaches, the aim of the club is not only to teach boys the basic principles of the sport, but to instill the importance of teamwork, good sportsmanship, and individual achievement. The most important aspect of the program is that the participants have fun while achieving these goals. The attainment of these goals is ultimately the responsibility of the coach. It is essential that coaches maintain a focus on the priorities and goals of the FBC program, bearing in mind that the program is for the players, not the parents or the coaches. The coach should emphasize that the most important aspect of the game is having fun while competing to win.

The Fast Break Club, formed in the summer of 2004, operates as a committee of the New London Athletic Booster Club. This relationship allows the Fast Beak Club savings in time and administrative set up, provides established name recognition in the community, and provides unified community membership. All of the Fast Break Club income and expenses flow through the New London Athletic Booster Club checkbook. The Fast Break Club will keep track of their financial performance and operate by their own bylaws.

Fast Break Club Purpose
The purpose of the Fast Break Club is to promote and provide different levels of basketball opportunities to any boys attending a school (public, parochial, or home school) in the New London School District.

It is the mission of the Fast Break Club to develop fundamentals, teamwork, self-confidence and sportsmanship.

Program Purpose: This program is designed for skill development and some scrimmage action.

There are two separate clinics in program one.

1. K-2 Program-The K-2 is a co-ed program and is a combined effort between the FBC and the NLGYBA. The K-2 program runs from the end of September to the end of October on Saturdays. Registration forms for this program may be picked up at any elementary school.

2. Saturday Clinic-The Saturday clinic is for boys in grades 3^rd-6^th grade and runs from December through February on Saturday mornings. This level provides a fun level of learning the game without the pressures of game play. The FBC encourages all Program 2 and Program 3 participants to attend these sessions.

Program Purpose: The purpose of this program is to start to introduce competitive play with less focus on winning. Individual development is emphasized. This level will allow the boys to play games with teams from other schools and communities. This program will allow boys with different skill levels to compete on the same team, to allow the learning experience this format provides.

*Boys in 5^th and 6^th Grade will play a league schedule in the Heart of the Valley league.

*Boys in 4^th grade will not play a League schedule but will play games against teams from other communities and/or schools. This program is only available to boys in the public school system because the parochial schools already play in leagues with their school teams. (if your parochial school does not have a team you may sign up)

Team Make up: 7-8 players on a team all grades. Goal is to have more teams with fewer players to allow for more playing time. Additional coaches will need to be secured to reach our goal.

Boys can play in both Programs 2 and 3. Coaches will try to minimize any overlap of the two programs.

Length of season- Starts November and ends in December (practice may start in late October)

4^th grade: 8-10 games 5^th & 6^th grade:10-12 league games

Program Purpose: This program is designed to provide competitive play for those boys that want compete at a higher level. This program will allow boys with similar skills to compete on the same team, to allow the learning experience this format provides. This level will allow us to be competitive with other schools' top teams. Teams will play competitively in weekend tournaments in and around Northeast Wisconsin. There will be 2 practices a week for each team.

Team Make up: 7-8 players on a team all grades. Goal is to have more teams with fewer players to allow for more playing time. Additional coaches will need to be secured to reach our goal.

Length of season- Starts January runs through March. Season may extend to April depending on grade level state tournament (6^th-8^th grade). The 7^th and 8^th grade teams will start after their Middle School season. Practice for 3^rd-6^th may start in December.

Tournament Entries by Grade:

3^rd grade: 2-3 tournaments 4^th grade: 3-4 tournaments

5^th grade: 4-5 tournaments 6^th grade: 4-5 tournaments

7^th grade: 4-5 tournaments 8^th grade: 4-5 tournaments

High School Program – Grades 9-12: This program will offer competitive summer opportunities. These opportunities will vary and will be decided on by the varsity coach but can include participation in summer league and summer tournament action. This program is under the direct guidance of the varsity coach. Any questions on this program should be directed to the varsity coach.

Parents, thank you for supporting your children by allowing them to participate in this program. You expend a lot of time and energy by cheering, by transporting the players to practices and games, and by attending games. Please continue to sit back and enjoy the young players and help support what we are trying to do at each level. Your son may not say anything, but he or she does appreciate you when you attend the games.

Each parent is responsible for their actions at all basketball games. You are there to cheer on your son and the FBC team. The most important thing is to be a positive role model for your son and others. We expect all parents to act with courtesy to all participants and referees. If this is a problem, the FBC Board of Directors may exclude the individual from attending games for the remainder of the season.

Each family is responsible for volunteering during the basketball season. The best way to meet these requirements is to volunteer at the FAST BREAK CLUB tournaments.

If a parent has a problem with anything dealing with their child, the proper way for this to be handled is to: (1) Find a good time to talk to their son’s grade level coach. If after talking with your son’s coach you‘re still not satisfied you should then: (2) Fill out a coach’s concern sheet and give it to a FBC officer. Coach’s concern sheets can be downloaded from the FBC website at: www.newlondonfbc.com

The Fast Break Club officers shall act upon a problem only after (1) The parent has talked with the coach, (2) The parent has filled out a coaches concern sheet

HEAD COACHING CANDIDATES MUST FILL OUT A COACHING APPLICATION AND HAVE AN APPROVED BACKGROUND CHECK TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE POSITION.

• Execute the purpose and mission of the Fast Break Club
• Attend coaches meeting/clinic put on by high school head coach
• All of the coaches should be extremely energetic, enthusiastic, loyal, and show a great deal of pride for the entire Fast Break Club Basketball Program.
• Have an organized (on paper) practice schedule on a daily basis.
• Practices need to consist of 50% pure fundamental work (dribbling, passing, shooting etc.)
• If you need help with anything regarding your team coaching, contact the Fast Break Club president or high school head coach.
• During the season, keep in contact with the FBC president.
• Attend Fast Break Club meetings-If coach is unable to attend then please have a representative from your team at the meetings.

•  Each head coach is responsible for enforcing all Fast Break Club rules, all WIAA rules, and all school district rules regarding athletics and basketball.
• Each grade level head coach is responsible for all equipment at his level during the season, which includes the proper record keeping of all equipment during the season and the storage of that equipment promptly after the season.
• Each grade level coach is responsible for ordering, distributing, and collecting money for their team’s jerseys. Any non-payment due to family hardships should be communicated with the FBC president.
• Communication between the Program 2 and Program 3 coaches is the responsibility of both coaches, so there is not a conflict with games and practices.

X’S & O’S-Coaches use the player development outlines to teach your teams the proper drill, skills, offensive and defensive schemes needed to play at the high school level. Each team will be unique; there are no certain age criteria for skill. Some ages will do certain things better than others. Teach to the level of your team while pushing them just beyond their limits. Coaches at any and all levels have one main goal and that is to develop players.

If you desire to have an assistant coach, they will need to be approved by the head high school coach.

Assistant coaches must have an approved background check to be eligible.

It is the philosophy of this district to offer gym space to community groups when space, time and the opportunity is available.

There are certain assumptions that the district will use with regard to youth sports programs using our facilities.

• Youth programs are for student development and opportunities for developing all youth.
• Emphasis should be placed on the development of skills for all youth, NOT on offensive or defensive schemes or plays.
• Gym availability is not for developing championship teams at the youth level.
• The head coach of that sport will serve as a liaison between the youth program and the school district activities director.
• It is the expectation that all youth programs associated with our school district will be in line with these guidelines.

Many districts, including ours, have seen a distinct increase of participation at the youth level, while at the same time experiencing a decrease of numbers at the higher levels. In any school district, but especially in a district our size, maintaining the number of participants equates with the survival of our wide variety of programs. Some of the factors which are contributing to this phenomenon are:

Championship teams at the Varsity level are most often those with a very "deep" bench. In other words, the best five or six players rarely can carry a team throughout the long haul of the season. Injuries, illness, ineligibility, fatigue, and foul trouble are a few of the many reasons why a team needs many highly-skilled players. Our mission as educators, coaches and parents should be to increase the quality of all participants, rather than concentrate on a select few. The best programs develop all players for all levels.

So much emphasis has been placed on participating in "structured" settings, that players and coaches often lose focus on the aspect of skill development. The most teaching and learning at young levels occurs during practice when a coach can take time to stop the drill to work one on one with a player. Repetition in the early years is vital to developing skills. Game situations in practice or in competition do little to improve the individual skills of young players.

This is assumption is rarely true, especially at the youngest ages. Many districts, including ours, have experienced high school-aged players who choose not to participate in athletics because they are "burned out." They feel that playing the game has become more like a job; instead of what it is truly is…a game. They complain that it just isn’t "fun anymore." Parents often wonder how much is too much, but don’t know the answer to that question until their son or daughter is one of the athletes that get "burned-out" and chooses to quit. In general, teams should not be in more tournaments than the grade level they are in. For example, third graders should play in more than 3 tournaments a year.

Our district has the philosophy that we develop athletes; we do not develop sport-specific players. Requiring or putting pressure on kids to choose between sports ends up hurting both sports and the athlete. Based on the experiences of many districts, the likelihood that an athlete gets "burned out" in a sport increases as they specialize at an earlier age. It is healthy, both mentally and physically, for an athlete to experience a multitude of sports and a multitude of coaching styles.

Some participants choose to discontinue their participation because they begin to experience extreme pressure from coaches and parents to always "be the best" and to win every game. In some extreme cases, players even become embarrassed by the actions of their parents and/or their coaches. Keep in mind that most young kids care as much about the relationships and the enjoyment of belonging to the team as whether they win or lose the game. Youth teams, coaches and parents are reflective upon the school district. Bulldogs of Character is something that New London is proud to be promoting and will not tolerate inappropriate sportsmanship at any level of competition.