There is an error in the information below.  The information meeting will be held on Saturday, February 18, not February 26.  All other information is correct.  The Poughkeepsie Journal may advertise the same incorrect date in Thursday’s Sports Calendar.  Please disregard that as well.

There will be an Edge Athletics information meeting for all parents and guardians of those interested in trying out for boys basketball age groups 11u through 17u on Saturday, February 26 18, at 11am.  The meeting will be held at the Poughkeepsie Day School Gymnasium located on Boardman road in the Town of Poughkeepsie (the gym is the last building on the north end of the campus). Pre-registration for tryouts will also begin at 10am on Saturday, February 26 18, and will continue after the information meeting up until 1pm. All Tryouts will be conducted at the Poughkeepsie Day School. There is a $25 tryout fee. Candidates must have an AAU insurance card. Candidates can apply for an AAU insurance card directly online at:www.aauboysbasketball.org or we can do it for you at the pre registration meeting.

The Tryout Schedule for boys is as follows:

Please adjust your travel plans accordingly.

Jim Santoro

Click Here for the link to the schedule

At the time, I had a really good feeling about this and believed that with a little more advanced notice and planning, that we may have found a nice alternative than traveling to Hershey.  But its now late Thursday evening and we still don’t have a schedule, and the more I learn about the venue, the more nervous I become. To set everyone’s expectations, the New Jersey Sports Academy may not be one of the best facilities that we have played in this season.  I am hearing conflicting stories about the quality of the courts.

With that being said, I am still optimistic that we will have a good experience.  For starters, we have all played in less than spectacular facilities over the years and Im sure this one is no better or worse.  All of the games will be played under one roof, giving all of our teams the opportunity to see other teams in our program compete.  Edison, although not the Jersey Shore, is as close to home as we could get this weekend which I know is welcomed news to many of us.  And although many of us have booked rooms in other hotels in proximity to the original venues, there seem to be many options to move.  For those that cannot cancel the reservations they have, this facility is actually closer to the Marriott than some of the original venues.

The net is that we gave this tournament a chance and although we’re not off to a great start, it can still turn out fine.  Lets hope that our athletes find themselves in competitive games and leave behind some fine performances.

New Jersey Sports Academy
76 Carter Drive Edison NJ 08817

It almost appears that an overnight stay may not be required.  Please adjust your travel plans accordingly.

Also, because of the venue change, the schedule will not be available until Friday noon.

June 23 - 10:30am: The following is a list of families and the hotels they are staying at as reported to me so far:

Reservations for Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick 877-301-8486

Jenney - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Keeley/English - Doubletree by Hilton at Princeton University
Harlow - Comfort Inn in Middletown, N.J
Barry - Red Bank Mariott Courtyard
Bell - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Smith - Residence Inn in Neptune, NJ
Derenzis - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Metz - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Copolla - Holiday Inn in East Windsor
Fields - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Peek - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Santoro- Holiday Inn, Hazlet
Rhynders - Holiday Inn, Hazlet
Moore - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Breitfeller - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Seckler -  Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Flynn - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Burda - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Segarra - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Qualters - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Peabody -  Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Carrillo - Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Strom -  Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Humphries -  Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick
Porter -  Marriott Courtyard, Cranbury, South Brunswick

I will continue to update this list as I am notified.

June 17 - 12:00pm: Although the Hotel situation has not improved much, I was able to lock in a $99 rate for anyone that chooses to stay at the Marriott.  When calling for your reservation, please use Edge Athletics as the group or organization name to get that rate.  I also talked again to the tournament director and, although he cannot tell us which age groups will be at which location, he did say that all teams will either play in the morning or afternoon.  So, in other words, you may play a 9, 11, and 1 as part of the morning session or 5, 7, and 9 as part of the evening session.  the only relevance here is that there will be no need to go back and forth to the hotel.

I also have called other hotels around the area and there is availability.  The prices range significantly and all of the hotels I called only had a handful of rooms.

If you make a reservation either at the Marriott or somewhere else, please let me know so that I can post it so that others can see who is staying where.

June 17 - 8:00am: I have been able to identify a Hotel, the Marriott Courtyard Cranbury/South Brunswick, that has enough rooms to accommodate our entire program.  The problem is that, although it is close to one of the venues, it is a fair distance from others.  They may be able to offer as many rooms as we need at a rate of $109 per night.  I am going to speak with them this morning to determine how many rooms we need to take to receive that rate.

Here are the addresses of the gyms we will be playing at:

St Joseph Gym

It is approximately 130 miles from Poughkeepsie, easy to get to, and should take just over two hours to drive depending on the venue and/or hotel.  The tournament director is going to provide hotel options for us by tomorrow evening.  I asked that he provide an option that is reasonably priced and within a reasonable distance to the shore.  Those who wish to stay closer to the shore (it will be more expensive) or further away (it will be cheaper), can do so.  I will post the options provided to me as soon as I get them tomorrow evening.  As you make your reservations, please let me know where you will be staying so that I can alert others.  I will post everyones choices as they come in.

I think this is going to work.  I know some of you were hoping to stay local, but there were just not any local tournaments that I felt comfortable with.  Others were similar distances, but after talking with the owner of Magicstour, I have a good feeling about this.

I will keep you posted as I receive more information, but we have been accepted and we have committed to go.

ALL OF OUR TEAMS WILL STILL PLAY THIS SAME WEEKEND.  We are currently waiting to hear back from several tournament directors.  We will make a decision in the next 48 hours as to which tournament we will attend.  The tournaments under consideration will likely require an overnight stay, but will be much closer than Hershey (under 2 1/2 hours).  One of the tournaments under consideration is close to the Jersey Shore.

I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause, but it is beyond our control.  I tried to hold out as long as I could in hopes that the issues with Hershey would get resolved.  As of today, they did not, and we could not wait any longer.  I will send out a text message as soon as the decision is made on the replacement.

Coach Santoro

Click Here for the link to the schedule page