Frequently Asked Questions

House league teams have one practice (1.5 hrs) and one game per week. School availability is different each year so locations may change from year to year but practice and game nights are usually consistent year to year as follows:

• Novice Division - practice on either a Monday or Tuesday evening and games on Friday evenings.
• Atom Division- practice on either a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evening and games on Friday evenings.
• Bantam Division - practice on either a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday evening and games on Friday evenings.
• Major Division - practice on Mondays and games on Wednesday evenings. 
• Juvenile Division - practice on Tuesday and games on Thursday evenings.

Since almost all our practices and games are at schools in the KW area, we must follow the school boards rules. Permits all have start and end times and these must be obeyed.

• Elementary school permits begin at 6:30 pm so the first practice (usually 1 of the 2 younger divisions) will start then and run to 8:00 pm. 
• The 2nd practice (usually Bantam or higher) will run from 8:00-9:30 pm. High school permits begin at 7:00 pm so practices would run from 7:00-8:30 pm or 8:30-10:00 pm. There are a few exceptions to this. 
• Games are scheduled to begin 15 minutes after the permit begins to allow for warm up time with the 2nd game of the night starting 15 minutes after the 1st one ends. Again, there are a few exceptions to this. 

How will I know what day my practice will be on?
At the conclusion of the Evaluation period, designed to assess player skill to determine balanced team allocation, each parent/player will be contacted by their assigned Coach. In that introductory communication, the Coach will share details such as the weekly practice day and location, as well as other team specific details. 

At the house league level, the focus is on a player's skill development, being part of a team and enjoying the game. We all try hard, but it's all in fun. Every division has players that are new to organized basketball and some that might have played for several years. There is room for all in KW YBA.

All of our House League divisions are co-ed. There are usually more boys than girls but we attempt to balance the ratios if possible. Rep teams are segregated by gender; Boys and Girls.

That's okay! KW YBA needs all sorts of volunteers. We need people to help keep score, keep time, monitor doors and gyms and help with special events like Skills Competition and Pizza Day. For those that would like to help coach, we do have clinics available and a coaches' development program.

We do not accommodate requests that players can play on certain teams with a friend.

Practice night requests are accommodated on a first come first serve basis and must be indicated during Registration. This is a REQUEST and NOT a guarantee.

If you have a special situation, the KW YBA Special Request Due to Hardship Form will need to be completed. This request is reviewed by a Committee. The decision of the Committee is final and will be commmunicated directly.

Please contact our House League Administrator, Sheri Cartwright at sheri_yba@yahoo.ca to get a copy of the form.  There is no choice available for practice or game location.

Rep teams generally practice between 2-3 times per week, including 1 on Saturday.

Vipers teams all play in the Ontario Basketball League (OBL), a league run by the Ontario Basketball Association (OBA). These games are usually on either Saturday or Sunday about once per month. In addition, they may play in 1 or 2 OBA sanctioned tournaments during the course of the season.

The Rep season also lasts a little longer than House League, typically into April or May for the younger boys and the girls teams. The older boys teams (U15, U16, U17, and U19 teams) start later in the season, beginning after the boys' high school season. These age groups can play house league without interfering with their rep season but there is an additional registration required.

Most weekend tournaments that our teams attend are run by clubs from Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Brantford, Hamilton, etc. However there is possible travel to such centers as Toronto, Barrie, Windsor, etc. The Provincial Cup Championship tournament is hosted by various centers in Ontario as is posted by OBA on their website. The KW YBA website will link to that schedule after the postings are live on teh OBA site.

Yes. Because of insurance regulations, we cannot allow players who are not registered (and thereby insured) to participate in a tryout. All players must register with the KW YBA first.

Standard rule is if the school has been closed during the day due to bad weather, the facility will remain closed for the evening and all YBA practices/games will be cancelled. During inclement weather, check the appropriate School Boards' websites or listen to your local radio station to ensure the status of the facility closure. All closures/changes to schedule will be posted on this website or on Sportsengine, our sport management software aplication, as soon as they are known.

Yes. If you have a question regarding fees and assistance, please contact the appropriate city representative as outlined under the "Fee Assistance" tab on this website You can apply for fee assistance through KidSport Kitchener-Waterloo, JumpStart through your local Canadian Tire or the city's assistance plans. We also receive other donations from community groups (KSA, etc.) that allow our club to waive fees for individuals with specific requests.

Our registration fee for the 2022-23 season is $325.00 for players registered before September 30th. After September 30th, a $25.00 late fee increases it to $350.00.

Account statements, which can be used for tax purposes, are available to all registered members. Just go through your registration site remembering to use the same password as you used to register for the year. These can then be downloaded and printed.

• Novice - under 10
• Atom - under 12
• Bantam - under 14
• Major - under 16
• Juvenile - under 18.

• It means that the Divsion is potentially full. This can change as Viper team try-outs come to an end in September. We hold a number of spots for “registered” players who are unsuccessful in the Rep team try-out
• Players who try-out for Viper rep teams and are unsuccessful and wish to play House League will be placed on the Wait-List in the order of the date and time they registered. Once this process is complete we will determine if players can be removed from the Wait-List and placed on teams
• Spaces can also come available for other reasons such as: player withdrawal from the House League program, injury, or we are able to increase the capacity of the Division by adding additional teams
• Increasing capacity by adding teams is entirely dependent on the availability of gyms 
• Players who have been placed on a Division Wait-List, will be advised of options and next steps via email