Basketball K-12 2022-2023
Deep River Parks and Rec Basketball
2022 - 2023
What an awesome season! Thank you everyone and especially the coaches!
Wrapping up our winter activities, brought the end to the Deep River Parks and Recreation’s basketball program, offered to youth in grades K-12. The 2022-2023 season finished last week. The players seemed to all have a great time while improving their basketball skills and having fun.
The rec department would like to thank all the volunteer coaches and the referees, who gave of their time and talents each week to bring this great program to our local youth.
The K-3 program, coached by Danielle Castellano, Adam Sutch and Nick Rioux, met once a week and emphasized skills and ball handling. The 23 players were full of smiles and determination as they mastered such basketball skills as dibbling, passing, and shooting.
Grades 4-6 also met once a week and were coached by Nick Graham and Nick Rioux. Valley student Nick Cox also helped out. The players improved their skills and also learned game strategies. Weekly scrimmages were held so players could implement what was learned. The K-6 grade program was held in the Deep River Elementary School gymnasium.
The NBA high school program, grades 7-12, ended their season with the annual ‘Valley Cup’ tournament. ‘March Madness’ was alive and well at the John Winthrop gymnasium recently, as the single game elimination style tournament had the teams battle each other for a chance to take home the coveted silver cup trophy. Congratulations to coach John Dickson and his team, the Lakers, who beat the Bulls, 73-55 to become the ‘Valley Cup’ champions. Their name will be engraved on the trophy which is kept by the winning team for the calendar year until the next champions are crowned in March 2023-2024.
Lucas Rogers led the Lakers with 26 points, while teammate Colin Carver added 19. Two other players were in double digits, Luke Buccaro with 11 and Eli Torres posting 12 points. Coach Dickson led his team to a regular season record of 6-1.
The Bulls were a worthy opponent. Lead by coaches Michael and Paul Cullina, team high scorers for the tournament were senior Nii Sykes with 17 points and Jacob McKenna with 11.
Deep River Parks and Recreation would like to thank all who volunteered this season with a special shout out to our other NBA coaches: Casey Metz, Steve Kleiman and Jim Metz. Thank you to the JW, DRES and EES custodial staff, as well as to all the referees. Referees this season were James Daly, Dave Berardis and Steve Elich.
Basketball information for the past season:
Recreation Basketball for grades K-12.
Basketball Registration
We need volunteers at all levels to serve as coaches or assistant coaches or to help at the scorer's table on Saturdays (or game days)
RECREATIONAL BASKETBALL FOR KIDS IN GRADES K – 3
The K-3 grade boys & girls will have a clinic for one hour per week after school designed for introductory skills development.
Children will be taught the basic motor skills necessary to play organized basketball.
Focus will be on Skills development in dribbling, passing, and shooting.
Focus will also be on having fun!
The K-3 grade boys & girls will be grouped together and divided weekly into smaller groups to focus on skills.
Grades K through 3 will use a junior size 5 ball.
All sessions will be held at DRES
Sessions will be held on after school on a day TBD until 4:30 beginning the week of January 2, 2023.
The program will run for 6-8 weeks ending around the week of February 20, 2023 due to missed sessions due to school holidays.
IN ORDER TO OFFER THIS PROGRAM - WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!
Please indicate if you’d be interested in being a coach or asst. coach.
FOR THE SAFETY OF ALL-THE ‘NO JEWELRY’ RULE WILL BE STRICTLY ENFORCED-This includes earrings
NO REGISTRATION FORMS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER 12/9/22
Registration Fee: $55 for Grades K-3
The 4th-6th grade boys and girls, will be grouped on teams with Deep River, Essex and Chester participants combined by gender. practices will either be at DRES or EES.
Depending on the number of registrants, the boys' program may be administered by Essex P & R, with the girls program administered by DR P & R. This will be determined after registration closes and the enrollment is obtained. .
As we have done before, this year for the 4th-6th grade boys & girls from Chester, Deep River and Essex, all players will be grouped together by gender. This age group will practice at least one evening a week, and will have a skills clinic and weekly scrimmages.
The 4-6th grade program will use 10 foot hoops and a 28.5 intermediate size ball.
If enrollment is too low, P & R will make the decision to group players differently or might be forced to cancel the program for a particular grade level.
Practices will start tentatively the week of November 14th, 2022.
If games are played, they will begin the week of January 2nd 2023 and end the week of February 27th 2023.
Depending on enrollment numbers, if teams can be formed, games may be played against other area teams. These teams might include HK, Portland, Cromwell or Haddam.
If games are held, home games will be played on Friday evenings at DRES. Away games locations and times will be announced.
Players are responsible for their own travel arrangements.
Practices will start tentatively the week of November 14th, 2022.
** IN ORDER TO OFFER THIS PROGRAM, WE NEED VOLUNTEERS**
RECREATIONAL BASKETBALL FOR YOUTH IN GRADES 7-12
***We NEED COACHES***
The program is sponsored by Deep River Parks & Recreation, but is open to all area youth.
Typically, teams in the NCAA division will be mixed with youth from grades 7 & 8. In the NBA division, youth from grades 9-12 will make up each team. If enrollment numbers are low, we will group 7-12 together on each team.
Besides the teams from the tri-town area, the league might include a team from outside of the local area. Updates will be announced.
Tri town teams will have at least one practice during the week. Practices will be at the local School gymnasiums in Essex and Deep River.
All safety protocols in place by the schools will be followed. Masks are optional for players and spectators.
Games will be played at John Winthrop Middle School on Saturday mornings with the potential of additional games played at out of town locations if other towns join the league. Updates will be announced prior to the season.
Games will be played against all other teams in the league.
Practices will tentatively begin the week of November 14th 2022
Games will begin the weekend of January 7, 2023.
The end of season tournament will be March 4, 2023.
NOTE: For grades 7-12, Rec Basketball will only be offered to those who do NOT play travel basketball, or are NOT playing for the middle school or high school teams. Anyone who plays for a travel team, AAU team, or for a school team during the same school year will not be eligible for rec basketball. (Students that play on any middle school or high school basketball team (freshman, JV, or varsity) are not eligible for or allowed to play in the Rec Basketball league (even after the high school season is over), per CIAC rules.)
This program will only run with the help of volunteers! Please consider helping out. Please indicate below if you would be interested in being a coach or assistant coach. Coaches must hold current First Aid certifications and may be required to complete an in house coach’s training/clinic as well as on-line training.
A late fee will be assessed if registering after 11/4/22. Unfortunately, No registrations will be accepted after the final late registration deadline has passed.
No requests to be placed on a specific team will be honored. Team selection is a fair process done by a draft by the coaches.
FOR THE SAFETY OF ALL-THE ‘NO JEWELRY’ RULE WILL BE STRICTLY ENFORCED
**REGISTRATION FORMS RECEIVED AFTER 11/4/22 ARE SUBJECT TO A $50.00 LATE FEE.
ABSOLUTLEY NO REGISTRATION FORMS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER 11/11/22 or after the draft has been completed.
PLAYERS OF COACHES ENJOY 50% OFF ABOVE FEE! –PLEASE THINK ABOUT BECOMING A COACH!
Note: For those students trying out for the VRHS basketball teams, they will be allowed a full refund if they withdraw from the rec program. We ask that the player register for the rec program even if the student will try out for a school team, so that we have a more accurate count when forming teams and recruiting coaches. If the student tries out for the VRHS team and does not make the team, he will be allowed to join the rec basketball program. For all others, NO refunds will be issued once the teams are selected and a player is assigned to a team.
Please read through the following documents before completing your registration form:
Code of Conduct for Players and Parents
The philosophy of the Parks and Recreation Department is to teach skills, fundamentals, good sportsmanship and to create a positive environment for youth participants while having fun! Players and Parents are required to conduct themselves in a responsible and supportive manner. Please read through the complete Code of Conduct for Deep River Parks and Recreation Youth Athletic Programs available on on-line at www.deepriverct.us.
We ask all players to be familiar with the leagues’ Basketball Rules also available on the Town’s website. You are encouraged to read the Center for Disease Prevention and Control’s (CDC) ‘The HEADS UP’ initiative which provides important information on preventing, recognizing and responding to concussion (https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/youthsports/parents.html)
Please read through the COVID-19 SAFETY Acknowledgment, LIABILITY WAIVER, RELEASE OF CLAIMS & PHOTO RELEASE form before completing your registration. By checking the boxes below, in lieu of a signature, YOU HAVE CAREFULLY READ AND FULLY UNDERSTAND ALL PROVISIONS OF THIS RELEASE AND FREELY AND KNOWINGLY ASSUME THE RISK AND WAIVE/RELEASE YOUR RIGHTS CONCERNING LIABILITY AS DESCRIBED ABOVE. YOU ATTEST THAT THE ANSWERS PROVIDED IN THE HEALTH ASSESSMENT FORM, REQUIRED HEREIN, ARE ACCURATE TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE.
Any questions please e-mail ParkandRec@DeepRiverCT.us or call 860-526-6036