Jam Basketball off for the Summer
June 13th 2003
Phoenix Arizona - After a lot of thought and
discussion we have decided to not have our usual summer
program. In the past, Jam has put on an 8 week
fall and winter program. The spring season is 6 weeks
counting the draft. Our Summer program was 5
weeks. The Fall and Winter seasons had staggered starts
so add another 2 week-ends to the year. That totals up
to about 29 weeks per year for us. As many of you who
played in Jam know, the league is run by two people -
George and Cathe McBride. 29 plus weeks is just getting
to be to many and we are cutting back. Check back for
more as the summer progresses. We will provide more info
on where Jam is heading. More to come........
Jam Rules Regarding Playing Time
Feb 17, 2002
Phoenix AZ- It has always been a rule of Jam that
players play half of the game. It is written in all our
rules but the Advanced Rules. We have always tried to
emphasize to the coaches at the draft aware that players
in Jam play half the game. But we totally overlooked it
when putting the Advance Rules up on the web site. It
has come to my attention that several of our coaches
were not aware of that rule. I can't blame them for not
being aware of the rule, since it was not on the rules
page for that division.
So I have corrected the rules and now hopefully all
the coaches will follow that rule. One thing for all our
coaches to remember - plan for your rotations in advance
and stick to them. In the event of close game winding
down, don't leave yourself in the position of being
tempted to cut someone's playing time short because you
don't like who you have on the court. Remember if every
coach plays all their players evenly it should all
balance as far as balance goes. Don't make your team
better by shorting one of your developing players
playing time.
Congratulations to Akimel and Centennial Basketball
January 30, 2002
Phoenix Az.- The Tempe Kyrene Athletic Conference
held it's boy's basketball Championship Tournament this
week.
more.....
Kyrene School District Insists Jam Pay for Outdoor
Playgrounds
Playgrounds Should Be Free not for FEE
September 24, 2002
Phoenix, AZ - Kyrene School District Community Education
a few years ago instituted a fee for all organizations
for use of playgrounds. We have battled them about
charging community based teams, like Jam and YMCA, for
practicing at various outdoor playgrounds. We have felt
that these playgrounds should be free to anyone. After
all it is the local property taxes that pay for these
playgrounds to begin with. Why make the community pay
twice? Is the district afraid the little kids feet will
wear out the cement?
The fee for Jam would be $125 per playground. There are
23 schools in the Kyrene district. We don't know where
players will practice so if we were to pay for each
playground it would cost the league $2875 per year to
cover the cost of the playgrounds. So we would like to
let our members know that if you practice at a Kyrene
School playground, your team may be kicked off by school
personnel.
If your team gets bounced passed from the playground and
you want to continue to practice at the outdoor
playground you could take up a collection and take it to
Community Education to continue practicing. Because,
with the fees the district is already charging us for
indoor gym use, application fees, cancellation fees, and
fees for fees, Jam can't pay this charge.
So what is a team to do? You could practice at local
parks or high schools. Tempe Union High School District
does not charge for use of their outdoor playgrounds.
Desert Vista, Mountain Pointe and Corona all have
outdoor courts which are free. There are plenty of
public parks, which are also free. At least free to the
extent we only pay for building them. With Kyrene School
district we pay to build them and then they rent them
back to us.
It might be a good idea to let school board
members know how you feel about this. After all it was
your school board that voted this fee into place after
it was proposed by Community Education.
Fall 2002 Registration
Click here for registration form
Aug 14th, 2002
Phoenix - Jam Basketball has posted the fall 2002
registration form today. It is available to print and
fax or mail with your payment. The season will start the
1st or 2nd week of October and the draft will be on
September 28th, 2002. The season will be seven games.
The seventh game will be the first game of a single
elimination tournament. All teams will qualify to play
in the championship game.
Cost for the season will again be $85. It may seem like
someone is getting rich off this fee, but the cost of
each game shocks most people. For instance, 2 referees
cost $34 per game. The Kyrene School District charges
$30 per hour plus cleanup. Flyers for distribution cost
$1100. If we can't get a volunteer to do the scorers
table we have another fee of $10 per game for a site
person. Each game your child plays in cost a minimum of
around $75. Plus the draft costs about $300 - $400.
We hope this sheds light on where the money goes and
hopefully parents will understand that Jam is not a
money making business. We are a user pays organization.
We don't get tax payer dollars or United Way funding to
help defer costs as the YMCA or City programs do.
Playing in Jam helps lower your tax burden. The City of
Phoenix parks and recs programs all are funded by your
tax dollars. When you play in a city parks basketball
program and only pay $40 for a registration fee it is
because the difference of what it costs and what you pay
is made up by the city coffers. A city parks program can
loose as much as $300 per team. If you count all the
administration salaries, office space, computers, and
phones the city programs loose even more than $300 per
team. Guess where all the money comes from. That's
right, your tax dollars.
Jam Winter 2002 Championship
Results
and Stories
Click here for more on
championship games
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