The South Dayton Knights Basketb

The South Dayton Knights Basketball Club exists to provide those boys in the area Catholic grade schools another “select” basketball option. It is not meant to replace CYO, but to compliment it. The SDKBC gives these student athletes the chance to come together earlier and play as a team. Our philosophy: to ensure a positive basketball experience as a group and to develop all participants as individuals.

1. What league will the teams play in ? Typically, all scheduling is done after CYO schedules are made. 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade will play in Division 1 of the Dayton Metro League. Games usually begin the first week of December. Tournaments could be scheduled a few times during the season as well. Our home games are played at Beavertown Elementary, or UD Recplex. 7/8th games are currently scheduled for 16-games, including some weekday games. Our home court is Alter H.S. and UD Recplex.

2. Will there be two teams ? Quite honestly, it depends on the turnout. SDK realizes boys develop at different rates, so we'd obviously prefer to give all boys a chance to play. We'll make every effort to consider two teams assuming we can also find dads to coach. The second teams would play in the Dayton Metro Division 2 ,(20 game schedule) but we must have enough boys in 4,5,6. In other words, we would have three teams in Div. 1 and three in Div. 2. If 5th grade doesn't have enough players to field a second team, we cannot have a second team in 4th and 6th. Metro by-laws indicate it must be equal number of teams.

3. When/where will the team practice? Practice times for the various teams are TBD at this time, but we typically practice Friday nights since that doesn't conflict with the CYO practice schedule. Locations: Parkview Church of the Nazarene at 4701 Far Hills, next to David’s Cemetery, Christ United Methodist Church (3440 Shroyer) and Ephipany Lutheran (6430 Far Hills) We would also use Alter H.S. and UD recplex on occasion.

7/8th practices will also be held Friday nights and some Sunday nights so they will not conflict with CYO.

4. What is the cost to participate? $TBA per player. We will make every effort to keep costs down. Please let us know at tryouts if you need assistance. Our fees will not be higher than other programs. These fees help to offset the abundance of charges, including: Gym rental/custodial charges for games, Referee fees, Insurance, court rental for games and practices, Equipment and Uniform costs as well as Dayton Metro league fees and tournament entry fees.

5. Who are the coaches? The '07/'08 staff for SDK 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade teams will be determined following evaluations of the players in September. SDK will also hold clinics (Nov. 3, 2007 at UD) so players can learn from the various coaches. Many of our coaches have played college basketball, including Steve Hartings at Wright State, Ken Hass at Indiana State and Dan Christie at University of Dayton. 7/8 grade coaches will also be announced later.

6. What is the policy on playing time? While practice is important to the development of young players, game experience is as well. It is our policy to ensure all of our players get a significant amount of playing time. We believe that the talent level of our teams will make that easy to manage. In fact, we believe our depth will be a competitive advantage we want to leverage. 7th /8th grade playing time determined by coach.

We scheduled the tryouts earlier than most of the other area select programs so that kids that don't catch on with us will still have time to tryout for other teams. 7th/8th tryouts will be held in mid-October, probably after most school team tryouts.

8. Is there any affiliation to Alter H.S. Not directly, but Alter Head coach Joe Petrocelli and his staff are updated on the policies/planning of the program and aid in obtaining gym time for practices and games. SDKBC may use an Alter facility on occasion and SDKBC will wear brown/gold. In addition, SDKBC coaches have an open invitation to engage any of the Alter coaching staff for information, questions, suggestions, etc. With those minor exceptions, the SDKBC is managed completely independent of Alter High School.

9. Is the SDKBC insured? Yes. We also require each player’s family to carry their own medical insurance.

10.Will teams change year to year ? Absolutely. Please encourage your son to tryout for the team each year. Those boys who are selected to the teams in 4th--8th grade have no advantage year after year. The Alter H.S. staff also encourages all boys to tryout for their H.S. teams. For example, boys who make the 8th grade SDK team do not have any selective advantage over other boys trying out for the freshmen team.