Policies and Procedures for Mini Metro Youth Basketball League

The following Bylaws shall be applicable to the Mini Metro Basketball League and shall take precedence in the event of any conflict between such Bylaws and the rules and regulations of any local team participating in the League.

• • Team Participation:  The Mini Metro Basketball League (League) is established for the purpose of allowing for competition among elementary and middle school students in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades. The basic structure of the League is to permit teams that are affiliated with the geographic limits of a Vermont public school district.  Eligible League teams will be generally limited to two boys and two girls’ teams per age group from each school district which has teams. In rare cases of extraordinarily high participation, the League Directors (only) may authorize additional teams.  If a potential player lives within a school district that is sponsoring a team or teams in the League, the player may only play on one of those teams, and will be subject to such teams try out and participation rules.  If a potential player lives within a school district which is not having a team in the League for his/her grade grouping, such individual may try-out to play for an organized team that is located in the school district which is the next closest geographically as determined by the League Directors.  However, it is not advisable to cut players from your own district to include any out of district players.  Additionally, once an individual commences participation for a particular team, he/she is limited to teams from that district for the entirety of his/her League experience unless his/her family physically moves their place of residence to another school district which is sponsoring a team.  A potential player who attends a private or parochial school shall have the same eligibility and shall be subject to the same rules as those attending a public school. All eligible individuals shall be entitled to a tryout with the appropriate team.
  • Rosters: All rosters must have a minimum of 8 players unless approved in advance by the League Directors.  The reason for this is to prevent forfeitures. The team roster form must be completely filled out for submission. It is the responsibility of the coaches to ensure only eligible players are on your rosters. If a player is found to be incorrectly playing on a team based on residence, etc., games in which that player participated may be forfeited at the decision of the directors. Players must be assigned to the appropriate grade level for teams.  No 9th+ graders are allowed to play. You may not cut correct grade-level players to add a lower grade player.

• Player Eligibility: Players who receive two technical fouls in one game will be ejected from that game and required to serve a two week/game suspension.  2nd offense of this, the player is out for the season.

• Forfeits: Teams that have two forfeits in a season will be eliminated from play for the remainder of the season.  Also, lack of participation and forfeits are not fair to the League.  All must be aware and considerate that teams are traveling a distance to play and deserve to have the scheduled opponent show up to compete.

• Waiver Forms: Waiver forms must be completed for each player and turned into the League.  Rosters must include player name, address, school, and grade information, plus the roster should be labeled with team identifying information.  It is a coaches responsibility to be aware of any medical needs of their player. 

• Playoff Eligibility: Players must play in 50% of the regular season games in order to be included in the playoffs.  Consideration will be given to injury situations, but then players should be on the initial team roster for this.

• Divisions: Please correctly label your team as A or B.  The recommendation in this regard is that if the overall teams are 4th/5th or 7th graders, the teams should be B.  If 6th or 8th then – A. Combo teams 5th/6th, 7th/8th depend on experience and ability.

• • Local Control: Please note that each school district participating in Mini Metro may also be governed by a group of coordinators working in conjunction with local high school coaches. If you are interested in joining Mini Metro, you must contact your local group and insure your participation. This is necessary to coordinate team numbers, tryouts, local procedures or rules for tryouts, participation, and practices.

• Gym Insurance Coverage: Please provide us with the name and addresses of schools to be used if you need a certificate of insurance coverage. – send an email with this information and request. It is also necessary to provide us with the address of the district administration.

• Team Entry Into Mini Metro League:We will take entry requests from teams, with priority being teams that are currently in the League. We have never had to turn down a team requesting entry, but it depends on gym availability.

• Coaches: All coaches and staff working with players must have background checks through NCSI with our secure link. This needs to be renewed every other year. Coaches from the 2022-2023 year will not need to perform another check until the 2024-2025 year.  All NEW coaches, assistant coaches and other team staff who will be working weekly with players need to get a background check through NCSI for the 2023-2024 year.. Coaches without completed background checks are not eligible to coach. Our insurance carriers are insisting on this and we are complying. We will be checking in during games to verify that the correct coaches are on the bench and we will not allow personnel to be involved in coaching that have not completed these background checks.

• Coach Conduct: Coaches are responsible for their own behavior and the behavior of their players and fans. Please emphasize sportsmanship and support of the officials. If a coach receives two technical fouls in one game or if he or she confronts the officials after the game, there will be a consequence of a two game suspension. If this happens twice, the coach will be ejected from the League and not allowed to return. We need to ask coaches to be excellent role models for the players. Our continued usage of the gyms is really very dependent on maintaining excellent behavior in the facilities. Please step up and ask your fans to behave appropriately for the betterment of the League and our relationship with our community facilities. Coaches may not contact other coaches to make schedule changes or set up alternate times/gyms.

• Competitive Spirit, Player Development, and Sportsmanship:The emphasis in Mini Metro is not on winning games, but on player development and sportsmanship. All adults need to model this expectation at all times. Gym Coordinators should read the Sportsmanship statement at the beginning of all the games for the first Sunday and at any other time deemed appropriate. Coaches should review this statement with their players and parents prior to playoffs as well. The more proactive we can be on this issue, the better success we will have .This statement is listed as an attachment at the end of this page. Coaches can also supply their parents with a copy of this statement so they are aware of League expectations. If a team has a 20 point lead, they must no longer press the other team until the lead drops below this guideline. Players must drop back to around the 3 point arc – no meeting teams at half court. Teams should also utilize man-to-man defense when possible, and play the bench in lopsided scoring games. Starter players can learn different roles in different situations and bench players can improve given more playing time. Your team can possibly play defense with their hands behind their back to emphasize foot movement and position on defense and thus enable the overmatched team to pass and move the ball on offense easier, to allow the weaker team more of a chance to score while convincing your team of the value of footwork in defensive play.

• Parent, Player And Coach Behavior Control: Detrimental conduct and behavior of parents, players, coaches, and assistant coaches can result in suspension from the League and ejection from facilities. The Board of Directors have the authority to take appropriate actions in this regard.
• Scoring of Games: See Rules attachment for greater detail. Both teams should provide a scorer for books for the game. The home team will be the official scorer, but it makes things run more smoothly if there are scorers for both teams at the scorer’s table. Gym coordinators need to provide staff to run the scoreboard/clocks. High school students or parents can be used in this capacity. There was some discussion of this coverage and how difficult it is to obtain at some gyms, especially where multiple gyms are in use. Some gyms may need help running the score clocks. Any adult who has experience in running the clocks could volunteer to help. Secondly, high school players often need community service credit and can be organized in advance to fulfill their commitments by helping with the score clocks.
• Schedules: Home team will be listed FIRST on the schedule. An initial schedule for several weeks will be posted as soon as they can be for the first games in November. Then a schedule for the next few weeks will be posted. The plan will be to NOT make changes in these schedules except in the case of error or League Director discretion. It is not fair to make changes to help one player or one team when that impacts 10-20 other teams. The League cannot make changes or accommodations for players involved in other sports or other activities. We know everyone is busy and that all players just want to be able to be at their teams games, but the League Directors have to be able to put together a schedule that is stable and that coaches can use to plan.  If you are coaching more than one team, you need to have good assistant coaches to cover as the directors may not be able to create schedules without conflicts for the two teams. The Directors are in charge of the schedules and any comments or issues should be sent directly to them through email at vtcatscorrespondence@gmail.com The League cannot correspond directly with parents regarding schedule and requests for accommodations. Coaches need to let parents know this and route all communication through coaches only. During this initial six weeks, coaches should evaluate their level placement and let the League know if they should stay at the level they established at the beginning of the season. Changes to level designation will be at the discretion of the League Directors. Changes in the level of competition start as soon as the Directors are convinced from the weekly results and from the coaches recommendations that they are in the wrong level of competition. Stronger teams will play A, and weaker teams play B and some teams may get competition in both levels. Changes for these reasons often begin happening as early as weeks 5-8. ** Changes will be sent out via email  -coaches should check their emails frequently, especially prior to games. While the League does sincerely appreciate the efforts of gym coordinators, if these individuals are also coaching teams, it cannot be guaranteed that they will always have home games. It is thus recommended that you utilize assistant coaches to travel with your team, if your gym responsibilities require your presence at the gym during games. It is also recommended that you try to involve high school coaches to help in these situations. If there are an odd number of teams in a category, a team may have a bye.  Please advise your parents and players that this is a possibility and be prepared.

• • Game Times and Locations: Many games will run starting at 10, 11, 12, 1, and 2. Some gyms may require a slightly different schedule, with some games beginning at 9, or games starting at 3 pm. Be prepared for any of these game times over the season. See the schedule when it comes out for all times. Gym coordinators need to open the gym 30 minutes prior to the first game. Games are scheduled all over from Barre in the south to BFA in the north. Although every effort is made to not put an undue burden on teams, teams do need to be prepared to travel to various gyms. Not all games will be scheduled for the gyms closest to your locale.
  • Weather Cancellations: If there is bad weather in the forecast, then the League Directors will make the necessary decision regarding cancellation by Saturday night if it is a large storm, or by 6:30 am, on game Sundays for questionable conditions. This information will be posted on the vtcats.org website. If the games are canceled all games that Sunday are to be canceled and will not be rescheduled or otherwise made up. Coaches may not contact other coaches to put together a make-up game or time. If games are not canceled we ask that you leave early, allowing plenty of time if weather is an issue.

• Equipment: Reversible jerseys are recommended to avoid conflicts. Colors should be light on one of the sides and numbers should be on both colors and both front and back of the jerseys. If you choose to not use reversible jerseys, then bring pennies to avoid conflicts. Mouth guards are not required. All teams should have first aid kits which include ice or cold packs. Please replenish these supplies throughout the season to be prepared for injuries. Gyms may not have ice for this use. Copies of the parental medical waiver forms should be carried in the first aid kits. Teams should also have their own basketballs for use, with a game ball available. Teams should have scoring books for the season. The smaller size 28.5 ball will be used for all girls games and for the 5/6 boys games. The regulation size 29 ball will be used for 7/8 boys games.

• School/Gym Usage: The League Directors would like to thank those teams who are able to provide gyms for games. The job of the gym coordinator is a difficult one and we must support them. The League cannot afford the loss of the use of a gym due to issues between the League and the schools. Thus, it is important to supervise the fans to ensure good behavior and no inappropriate access to non-gym areas of equipment. Of particular concern are siblings or other guests running around outside of the gyms and poor sportsmanship directed at officials or other teams. Warnings may be given to such fans, and then removal may be necessary if the behavior continues. Siblings can be directed to sit with their parents. Some gyms are Water Only gyms and they prohibit Gatorade, coffee, or other beverages and food items. We must comply with these instructions, so please inform your players and parents. Info on which gyms have this requirement will be posted on the schedule page. Please encourage your teams to clean the bench areas after their games and the bleachers also. Please ask parents and fans to make sure and pick up their coffee cups, etc., from the bleacher area as well. Do not arrive more than 15 minutes prior to your scheduled game time, and please leave promptly at the end of your game.

• Money Matters: Refs are paid $35 per game and the league will send out payment to referees each week. Gyms must charge admission: $2.00 for general admission, $1.00 for students and seniors (65+) and free for children under age 5 until changes are approved by League Directors. These fees help pay expenses such as the referees and help keep the per team costs down. Door monies should be deposited in a timely manner and the deposit slips sent to Melody, with gym identifying information – address to be posted shortly. Coaches need to tell parents about these fees and about possible gym policies regarding food and drink so parents are not surprised on the first few Sundays. The League Directors prefer that adults handle the admission responsibilities.

• Results: Please email in your results to Logan LaMoy at vtcatscorrespondence@gmail.com or upload to Sporte Engine . Winning coaches should send in the results on Sunday. If emailing, please list team numbers and scores for both teams. For example: Team #65 beat #63. The score was #65 = 28, #63 = 24. Results and standings will be posted weekly. Please confirm your results frequently during the season as they are used for team level decisions and playoff seedings.

• Officials: Officials are paid a small stipend for their work – $35 per game at present. The League emphasizes support of these officials. We have a referee scheduler who is in charge of all aspects of the officials’ selection, scheduling, and resolution of any issues. If you are upset with a referee, please do not call or email on a Sunday evening to discuss this. Wait until Tuesday and see if you are still upset and then feel free to email us with any concerns. The League understands that the referees are human, and mistakes may be made, but we still need to show our best behavior and sportsmanship at all times.

• Practices: The League is aware that practice time is hard to come by, but please avoid conflicts with school teams and school functions.