Note to NGBA Families
The NGBA Board of Directors are passionate about basketball and the power of team sports to develop life skills, build self-confidence and benefit individual players and the broader community. We serve girls in grades K-8 who live or attend school in Newburyport that want to share in our love of basketball.
NGBA board members, coaches and volunteers begin preparing for upcoming seasons in September, and the travel league seasons end with playoffs in March. That is 7 months of volunteer work to make the NGBA experience as positive and great as it can be! We work hard to always live up to our values and place the broader goals of the program above individual interests.
NGBA offers many different opportunities for girls to learn, develop, compete, and most importantly have fun playing basketball. As an organization, we aspire to have a spot for any elementary or middle school girl who wants to play basketball at our K-3 clinics or play on a travel team in grades 4-8.
As players get older and more skilled, some want higher levels of competition and others want to focus more on skill development, recreation, playing with friends and the fun of the game. Whether a player hopes to be prepared for high school basketball tryouts, or they just want to be part of a fun, less intense opportunity to learn the game and be active with friends in the Winter – we have a spot for them.
To fit the goals of as many girls as possible, NGBA programs are offered with a tiered continuum of increasingly more chances to focus on competitive team basketball as they get older.
- K-3 Clinics – introduce basic skills and maximum fun. Each grade learns age-appropriate individual basketball skills and by the time players are in 3rd grade, they will have been introduced to competitive team play.
- 4th Grade Travel League – Is the first year of practices, team play and league competition for most girls. Teams are assigned based on best efforts of grade coordinator and coaches to create balanced teams.
- 5th – 8th Grade Travel League – A/B teams are created based on tryouts and player desire to be part of an “A” team that emphasizes more high-level competition and winning, but never winning above sportsmanship, supporting teammates, minimum playing time, or fair play. Each grade introduces age-appropriate skills, drills, and team concepts on all teams. Every player that signs up will have a roster spot on a travel team.
- Summer Cashman Courts – offer rising grades 4th-9th the opportunity to play outdoor pickup games at our beautiful Cashman Park courts. Games are self-organized or lightly organized by NGBA volunteers. Program is free to attend and introduces girls to pickup basketball games, half-court rules and 3-on-3.
- NGBA General Travel League Information can be found HERE.
- NGBA Tryout and Team Selection Process can be found HERE.