Now that our AAU season has come to an end, we will be offering athletes for boys grades 4th – 9th the opportunity to continue to play through the month of June on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 4th, 5th, and 6th grades will be grouped together and 7th, 8th and 9th grades will be grouped together. The structure will include some practice drills to start out, followed by semi structured scrimmaging. The intent is to provide the kids an opportunity to play pickup “in a park environment.” This means that we will supervise the athletes to ensure they are getting the most out of their time in the gym while letting them figure some things out on their own. There will be a small fee of $10 that will be required to be paid each time an athlete comes which will provide the needed flexibility and will encourage the athletes to come when they can without incurring a “full program” expense.
Here are some Q’s and A’s:
- What days and times will this be available? – The 4th, 5th, and 6th graders time slots will be Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5-6:30. The 7th, 8th and 9th graders will be Tuedays and Thursdays from 6:30 – 8:00.
- If you did not play for an Edge AAU team, can you still come? Yes. We welcome all athletes from other programs to come.
- How much will it cost and when should we pay? The fee will be $10 per athlete for each day they attend. You can just bring the $10 each day and only pay for the day that you attend.
- Where are the open gyms being held? All open gyms are at the Poughkeepsie Day School gymnasium, the home of Edge Athletics.
- Will Edge coaches be coaching the athletes during the scrimmages? – No. Although we will be there to help facilitate the scrimmages, we want the ahtletes to play on their own without coaches instructing them, AND WITHOUT PARENTS MAKING COMMENTS to them while they are playing.
- Will parents be allowed to watch? Yes, BUT! We are not encouraging parents to watch them because honestly sometimes they cant help themselves! But we will allow them to come into the gym and sit quietly if they really want to! The intent is to let the kids play without any pressure and to just have some fun. We believe this is a piece of their development that is missing that will foster creativity and problem solving without adult (coaches and parents) intervention.
- You said there will be drills to start out. Will the coaches be running the drills? Yes. At the beginning of each session, we will provide some structured drills to help them continue with skill development and to provide a warmup prior to the scrimmaging. But most of the time will allow the athletes to scrimmage.
- When will this start? We will start this Tuesday, June 3, at the times listed in question 1.
- What happens if you do not have 10 athletes at a session? In the event that we have less than 10 athletes needed to go five on five, we will reduce the size of the teams accordingly, even to just 2 on 2.
- If there are less than 10 athletes in attendance, will the fee increase per athlete? No. The fee will always remain at $10 per athlete per day regardless of the number in attendance.
- Will you limit the number of athletes that can attend? Yes. We are hoping to have no more than 15 athletes but will take as many as 25.
- Will the athletes be using the full court for scrimmages? That depends on the number of athletes in attendance. We have used the two smaller full courts when we have had more than 20 athletes. That has worked very well in the past.
- Do we have to let you know in advance if we are attending? No, but it would be helpfull so that we can plan each session.
- How should we let you know if we plan on attending a session? You can simply shoot me a text at 845-264-5078. Although not required, especially after the first week, it would be helpfu.
- Will this be offered through the summer? Maybe. We are going to see how it goes, and depending on our gym schedule, we may offer something similar during the summer.