WHERE OUR COMMUNITY’S KIDS LEARN TEAMWORK AND SPORTSMANSHIP

The New Canaan YMCA’s Youth Basketball (Y-Ball) league provides kids with the opportunity to develop skills and a love for the game of basketball.  Y-Ball runs from November through March for kids in grades Kindergarten through eighth grade.  The program is led by volunteer coaches and provides a fun and engaging opportunity for kids to develop skills, teamwork, and knowledge of the game in both a practice and game environment.  Practices are held during the week and games are held on Saturdays.  Everybody plays in Y-Ball and everybody has fun!

The league is open to boys and girls in grades K-8 and is broken out into the following structure:

Boys’ League: K & 1st grades, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, and 7th & 8th grades.

Girls’ League: K & 1st grades, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, and 7th & 8th grades.

Some grade levels may be combined based on registration numbers. 2023-2024 Registration & League Dates

Registration Begins: Monday, October 2

Registration Ends: Friday, November 17*

K-8 Practice Begins: Monday, November 27

K-8 Season: Saturday, December 2-March 30

Any participant in grades K-8 not registered by Friday, November 17, will be placed on a waiting list and will not be guaranteed a spot in the program

Please Note: League schedule follows the NCPS school calendar. Games and practices will not be held on the following dates:

12/25/23 - 12/31/23, 2/19/24-2/24/24

Weekly Practice Schedule

Teams in grades K-8 practice one hour, one evening a week (Monday – Thursday). Practice days, times, and locations are determined based on gym availability as well as coaches’ availability. Players will have an opportunity to indicate a day of the week they are UNABLE to attend a practice. Efforts will be made to honor unavailable days selected but are NOT guaranteed.  Teams will have one game per week on Saturday. Games are 60 minutes long and will be posted on the Y’s League website.
Mandatory Evaluation

NEW THIS YEAR! Player evaluations will be broken up into smaller groups this season. Each grade will be evaluated individually, starting with kindergarteners, and ending with the 8th graders. The evaluation will consist of more game-like competition and fewer skill drills to get a more accurate reading of their basketball ability in a game. Player evaluation will take place from November 4 through November 11. Participants will receive an email by November 20 with their team, coach, and practice information. Practices begin the week of November 27. Once rosters are posted, player transfers/changes will only be approved by the Sports Director in extenuating circumstances.

Please understand that due to the size of this program, we cannot honor any special requests for team placement with individual coaches or other players.

Register for Y-Ball