Coaches Page

Coaches News and Notes

Thank you for signing up to coach for the Boy's Basketball 2026-2027!

I really appreciate all the time and effort that you will be dedicating to these kids.  It’s because of you all that we can continue to support our growing program.  17 teams, 140 boys this year!  Please review all the information below and reach back out to me with any questions or concerns. 

KEY CONTACT INFORMATION

Vince Ward – Boys Basketball Commissioner – 513-780-7352 – ward.ve@pg.com.  Please never hesitate to contact me anytime you have questions or need assistance. 

PLAYING TIME

For grades 3rd-5th, the requirement is that all players play at least one full quarter from beginning to end.  This applies to all Levels in 5th grade.  For balanced teams in grades 3rd-4th and any teams 5th-8th that are in Level 5, balanced playing time over the course of the season is expected.  Understand this may not be possible within each game, so please look for opportunities to balance out things out during lopsided wins or losses. 

The SMS goal for competitive teams in grades 5th-8th (Levels 1 through 4) is certainly to play to win, but also to find time for all players over the course of the season (again looking for those opportunities in lopsided wins or losses).  That said, we are playing competitive rules and there are no playing time guarantees.  Effort, attitude and commitment can all effect playing time.  

PRACTICE

Practice will begin the week of Nov 2nd.  Below is the first attempt at a practice schedule for all boys and girls teams.  28 total teams across three gyms.  As you can imagine this is a nasty game of tetris that we solve each year.  So please keep that in mind when reviewing the below.  I would ask that you reach out to me directly with any unsolvable conflicts that would prevent you from following the assigned practice time. 

Below you will find your coaching registration checklist. This needs to be completed no later than October 31st.

1. Coach Registration

2. TeamSnap- Please download the app and sign up for an account if you do not already have one.

3. Schedule Conflicts- Please send Vince Ward any schedule conflicts for yourself, for your team or for your grade (parent coaches only) by the 31st. This includes school plays, high school shadow days, etc. that take place on weekends from through the end of the season.

4. SafeParish- Make sure that you are current on all available modules for SafeParish. You will not be able to coach if you do not keep your SafeParish up to date. 

5. Photo- Please send a photo of yourself to this email address or scroll down to the photo upload option for your badges. We will not be able to issue you a badge without a photo. 

GYM ACCESS

SMS: Each head coach will be assigned a personalized badge that will grant you access to the SMS gym by swiping the badge on the keypad at the side double doors.  This link https://go.teamsnap.com/forms/530562 will walk you through the process via a separate TeamSnap registration.  Chris Parker, our new SMAC Gym Coordinator, will be owning this process.  Please make this a priority as coaches will not have access to the gym and therefore cannot start practices until this process is complete.  Please reach out to Chris or me with any questions.  Note: Part of the SafeParish registration is a $25 background check.  Please let me know if you need to complete this and SMAC will reimburse the $25. 

CRC: No special access needed.  CRC will have staff on-site during all hours that we are renting the facility.  If you have any issues accessing the building, please contact me directly and we will resolve with the CRC contacts.  Please be very cognizant of your practice end time at CRC, especially if you are the last practice of the day.  CRC stays open late for our practices and they do not charge any OT for this service.  So please be respectful and have the boys walking out of the facility right at the end of your practice time. 

Stepping Stones/UCP:  Please see the button below for opening and closing instructions for Stepping Stones.  These may seem a little complex, but once you do it a few times, it is very straightforward. 

GCCYS SITE / RULES / LIABILITY WAIVERS

Head coaches will receive an email (or may already have) from the league regarding access to the coach's portal on the GCCYS Website.  If you don’t receive this, let me know.   See the button below for the GCCYS rules for this season.  Please review and reach out for any necessary clarification.  One note: All levels should be playing 5 fouls per quarter result in the double bonus.  There is no more 1 and 1 after 7 fouls in a half.  Please keep a copy of these with you for all games to help resolve any questions that may come up during play.  The GCCYS has plenty of other good information/resources on it.  Please just take some time to poke around on there.  Also, all players must have completed liability waivers before the first league game.  I will be sending out a communication to all parents on this.  Please remind parents at your first practice.  League will enforce compliance.

COACH COMPLIANCE

1. GCCYS requires registration through NFHS and completion of their Concussions in Sports Course for all coaches.  You receive a PDF certificate once completed and it is good for 3 years.

2. Lindsay's Law is an Ohio law regarding cardiac arrest.   All coaches need to watch the video under the compliance section of the GCCYS Home Page.

3. All required information and links are found on the GCCYS Home Page under the Compliance Section – Lindsay’s Law, SafeParish, Concussion Training. 

Please make sure you are all current on these items before the season starts. 

SEASON DETAILS/REF FEES

• Nov 2: practices may begin.  Please expect two practices a week for all grades

• Dec 4: Regular season begins

• Dec 26 – Jan 2: No games on these weekends

• Feb 11 – Feb 14: Year end GCCYS Tournament

Coaches are responsible for paying referee fees before each game. Referee fees are $35 dollars per game (please be sure you have cash at each game). You will receive a check from SMAC in the coming weeks to cover your 10 league games and the first post season tournament game.  Any additional post season games will be reimbursed, just let me know how many extras were played. 

Any parent complaints or comments should be first communicated to the head coach, then from the head coach on to myself and finally I would engage the SMAC president and the league if necessary.  Thankfully, SMS does not have a record of recording many complaints during the year. 

HOME GAMSE/PARENT HELPERS

This season, homes games will be played at SMS, CRC Oakley and Purcell Marion.  For all SMS home games, we will have Jr. High student volunteers running the gate, concessions and clock.  Sign-ups for these positions will be managed via a separate Sign-Up Genius.  Coaches will not need to deal with this.  We will have one parent back-up assigned for each home game who will cover any position that has a student no-show.  We will also assign a parent as the ‘gym monitor’.  If a referee should ever ask you for the gym monitor, please point them to the assigned parent back-up.  For any home games at CRC Oakley, we will have one parent assigned to work the clock and the CRC staff will serve as the gym monitor.  For any home games at Purcell, all game day responsibilities will be managed by Purcell.  For CRC and SMS, I will assign all these roles in TeamSnap.   

SPORTSMANSHIP

Please make sure we are teaching the kids all aspects of the game including sportsmanship.  First and foremost, we want this to be an enjoyable learning experience for all, and we certainly want them to end the season looking forward to playing again next year.

IN SEASON TOURNAMENTS

SMAC will cover the entry fee of two in-season tournaments for each team.  I encourage you all to consider registering for a tournament if you and your team are willing and able.  You can review available tournaments on the GCCYS website (Home Page – General Info/Docs – Member Tournaments – Select your League).

COACHES GEAR

We will be providing a $35 gift card for all head coaches to be used for the purchase of SMS Coach Swag.  Each head coach will receive an email from U Sports with an electronic gift card.  Megan Schmutte will also reach out once these emails are sent with instructions on how to redeem. 

COACHES EQUIPMENT

I will have equipment bags for all coaches (one game ball, one practice ball, scorebook, dry-erase board/marker, pump) put together and will coordinate with each of you on getting these handed out before practices begin.  If you ever have the needs for additional equipment over the course of the season, just let me know. 

Previous Coahes Notes

Please make all request and cancellations as soon as possible. We request a 48 hour window for changes to be made.

Gym Time Request Form

Submit your Photo

Please submit only .jpeg, .tiff or .png files (.jpeg preferred)