Basketball leagues for dummies
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| I am new to basketball leagues (and organized sports for that matter), but I have an elementary schooler who's determined to be the next LeBron. Can anyone help me come up with a list of what the main leagues are in the area by competitiveness/time commitment/cost/season/travel radius, etc.? I'm trying to decide how much we're willing to invest in all this. We're in Chevy Chase. |
Anonymous
| There are no leagues. There are only teams, and tournaments. |
Anonymous
|
If your family is new to the sport, I strongly recommend that you all start out with rec leagues. Most county and city basketball rec leagues in the area are winter only but some of the registrations might've already started.
It's a great value for what you get, with games, practices, uniforms, for about $100 to $200. And also the leagues have more handicaps in place to help beginners. Tryouts are going on now for the fall season and many teams already had theirs in the last couple of weeks. Some programs frequently mentioned for your area (more the Bethesda area but I figure you are right next to there) are: https://www.ppateam.com/basketball https://tru2formhoops.com/ https://koasports.org/basketball/ Experiences will with teams within an organization depending on players and coach. ie an organization may have a great fifth grade team but their third grade team is questionable. Here is the link to the Montgomery County rec league, looks like registration starts on 9/30: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/rec/activitiesandprograms/sports/youthbasketball.html |
Anonymous
|
In my post above I kind of jumped from talking about rec leagues to individual programs/teams.
The tryouts mentioned above are for individual programs if you want to explore that route. Rec league is usually everybody plays and gets equal playing time, another reason why it's good for beginners. |
Anonymous
Force on has a league. There was a league run out of Germantown when my kid played. DPR has leagues. VA counties have leagues. Jelleff had lesgues when my kid played. There are tons of basketball leagues. |
Anonymous
| *Force One |
Anonymous
Travel leagues? Those sound like rec league |
Anonymous
|
DPR and Jelleff are rec.
Force One and the Germantown league are for low level AAU teams mostly. Some of the county teams in VA are apparently fairly competitive. PYBL is very competitive at the middle school level. |
Anonymous
There are leagues, but unfortunately you can't really pick the leagues. Once you join a team your coach will pick the leagues and tournaments you will play in. That being said, I think the wealthier teams tend to play in better leagues, where they can afford refs and gym time, the poorer teams tend to play the quick and dirty format tournaments. |