Maple Valley, WA
The Official Basketball Feeder Program for Tahoma High School

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GENERAL - FAQs

  • TBA is the official basketball feeder program for Tahoma High School.  TBA holds yearly tryouts in September with the goal of fielding boys and girls teams grades 4-8. 
  • Our mission at Tahoma Basketball Association is to provide student athletes in the Tahoma school district the opportunity to play competitive basketball in preparation for high school basketball while also teaching them life skills for future success as a student athlete and beyond. As the official feeder program of Tahoma High School, our goal is to be known throughout the basketball community as a team with heart, class and a competitive spirit.
  • TBA is a 501c3 non-profit.  Fundraising and charitable donations, along with membership dues, will be used to cover administrative and facility expenses.
  • The fall/winter season league fee was $695 for the 2021-2022 season but may vary each year. This fee is in line with other feeder basketball programs in and around the greater Seattle area. The fee includes team practices (2 practices/week), training/open gym sessions, league games, and 3 tournaments. If teams play in additional tournaments or opt for additional training, these fees will be collected in addition to your normal league fee. Coaches will give notice to teams prior to committing to any additional tournaments or trainings. 
  • Uniforms are an additional cost (new uniforms every 3 years) and run approximately $150-200.  
  • For insurance purposes, each player must also have a valid AAU membership to participate in all basketball related activities.  This is a small fee handled directly through the AAU web site.
  • The season registration fee is due within 4 days of receiving an invite to accept a roster spot. In order for players to begin participating in trainings and practices, payments must be received and they must have proof of a valid AAU number. If this is a financial hardship, and a payment plan is needed, please contact info@tahomahoops.com. Financial Assistance applications are also available on our website.
  • TBA practices typically start the first week of October and go through early March. Teams that qualify for the State tournament will continue practicing through mid-March. Training sessions typically take place in October. Tournaments start to take place as early as late October/early November. League games start in December and run through February.  Coaches, in partnership with the TBA board, decide which tournaments teams will participate in throughout the season.
  • Practice days are typically determined based on the coach’s availability along with Tahoma School District gym availability. We understand the complications of planning around various sport schedules, however, unfortunately basketball has the same scheduling challenges as other sports. Practice days are not determined until after tryouts take place and we know who the coaches are, what teams we have, and what gyms are available. We do our best to get schedules out as soon as we can.
  • All TBA league games and tournaments take place on Saturdays and/or Sundays.  Some tournaments will have a game on a Friday night.
  • TBA gold teams typically play in the Eastside Travel League (ETL) and our blue teams will typically play in the PEAK league. However, there have been some instances where teams have played in the Puget Sound Cascade Travel League (PSCTL) or the Puget Sound Travel League (PSTL).
  • The league games are local, typically on the Eastside. However, they can run pretty far north and south so some games can be an hour drive. We also host home games in Tahoma gyms. All TBA teams have historically traveled to Portland as a program for a weekend tournament in early December.
  • For those teams from the regular season that have enough kids wanting to continue to play in the spring, they can choose to have a spring team.  Spring season usually runs from April through early June. The number of practices, games, and tournaments are decided on by the coach based on each team’s availability and commitment level. There are not tryouts for the spring season. If a team does play in the spring, there is an additional fee for that season. The same uniforms from the regular season that year will be used for spring, so there will be no additional cost for uniforms.
  • While TBA does not have a formal policy regarding playing time, all players should get some playing time each game. However, this is a select program at a more competitive level than recreational basketball, so playing time will not be equal. It is at the sole discretion of the coach to manage playing time.
  • Not necessarily. Our goal is to have coaches lined up and assigned to teams the best we can prior to tryouts, however, without knowing how many kids will tryout or how many teams we can field until tryouts occur, some coaches will be assigned afterwards.
  • A high level of commitment is encouraged when players join a TBA team and we expect parents to make basketball their child’s priority during regular season. However, TBA supports players participating in other sports as long as parents communicate their child’s availability should it effect basketball. Please know that the level of commitment given to the sport can directly affect a player’s play time.

TRYOUT INFORMATION - FAQs

  • TBA offers tryouts for boys and girls in 4th through 8th grade.
  • Yes, TBA has both girls teams and boys teams. Depending on how many players tryout determines if we can field a team at each grade level and if we can have both a gold and blue team.
  • Tryouts for the regular basketball season are typically in early to mid- September. Exact dates for tryouts will be updated to our web site and Instagram page and an email with tryout information will be sent to last year’s players. Tryout dates and registration will be posted by August 1 each year.
  • Anyone interested in trying out will need to register on the TBA web site prior to the tryout dates.  The registration link for tryouts will be available by August 1 each year. Please wear appropriate basketball attire and bring your own basketball to tryouts and plan to arrive 15 minutes early.
  • Yes.  Everyone has to tryout each year.
  • It is critical to make it to the tryouts in order to truly evaluate the skill level of all the kids amongst the group. However, if you have a major conflict (e.g. pre-booked vacation, wedding, priority school event, etc.) and aren’t able to attend either day of tryouts, please contact us and we will review it on a case-by-case basis. 
  • Everyone must tryout during the session of their current grade and gender. TBA does not allow kids to play up.  Kids will be assigned to teams based on their current grade during tryouts.
  • The number of players on each team can vary depending on skill level and the number of kids that tryout. Optimally, a team will carry 10 players but can range anywhere from 8 to 12 players.
  • We try to have at least one team per grade level for both boys and girls. If there are enough players at a grade level to field two teams, we may have two teams for that grade – a GOLD team and a BLUE team.
  • You will find out if you made the team within one 1 week after the tryouts. Exact dates will be communicated each year when you check in for tryouts.
  • Absolutely!  We encourage all kids to tryout again the following season.
  • Yes, players must reside in the Tahoma School District/attend a Tahoma school in order to be eligible to tryout for a Tahoma Hoops team. This is an eligibility regulation for both the league and state tournament organizations.
    5.2 Eligibility Guiding Principles
    A. That all players in the league play for the Program that feeds where they will attend high school.
    B. That all players in the league live or attend school within the boundary of an ETL member program.
     

COACHING - FAQs

  • At any point in the year, if you are interested in more information regarding coaching, please contact info@tahomahoops.com. Anyone wanting to coach will have to go through an interview process the TBA Board of Directors.
  • While the goal of TBA is to have non-parent trained paid coaches at the higher grade levels, this isn’t always possible or affordable. Therefore, there are some teams that do end up with parent coaches especially at the younger grade levels.
  • Yes. Each team will have one head coach and one assistant coach.
    • All parent coaches are on a volunteer basis; however, they do receive a discount on their child’s TBA registration fee 
    • Non-parent coaches are typically paid
  • Payments for non-parent coaches are determined and based on basketball and coaching experience. Any paid coaches will be paid a flat amount for the season, receiving half at the beginning of the season and the other half at the end of the season.

Sponsorships & Fundraising FAQs

  • Yes! TBA is a 501c3 and would love to partner with any companies looking to support their local basketball association!  If you are interested in sponsoring TBA, please contact info@tahomahoops.com
  • Yes! Donations and fundraisers are what help keep TBA going.  Any donations you make to TBA are tax deductible.  Please send any donation questions to info@tahomahoops.com
  • Yes. Our main fundraiser is a Shoot-A-Thon that usually takes place in October. Players are encouraged to reach out to friends, family, neighbors to sponsor them during the shoot-a-thon with either a flat donation or a per shot donation.