FAQ’s

Can players participate on teams outside of the Jr. Eagles program and also on a Jr. Eagles team?

During the traditional Winter season, consisting of mid-October thru early March, players are expected to prioritize the Jr. Eagles Basketball program. This means players are expected to attend all practices and games scheduled for their Jr. Eagles team even if this means missing practices and games for the non Jr. Eagles team they are affiliated. This also applies to athletes juggling off season training for a Spring, Summer or Fall sport.

Players are expected to disclose any non Jr. Eagles team affiliation during their registration for the Winter season.

During non-traditional seasons, players who desire to pursue opportunities outside of the Jr. Eagles program are welcome to do so. If a player wants to participate on a Jr. Eagles team while also playing on a non program affiliated team, players are expected to disclose the non affiliated team. We ask for this information so we can make every attempt to not schedule the two teams against each other.

Why do we require players to prioritize their Jr. Eagles team during the Winter session? Teams are ranked based on their expected roster composition. CNR uses these rankings for the purpose of creating a competitive schedule. Should a player who is expected to play on a Jr. Eagles Team not prioritize their participation and miss practices and games, it’s highly likely the teams ranking should be adjusted. It’s not fair to the remaining players to be playing games against higher level teams without the full compliment of their expected roster.

Beyond learning the skills of basketball, we aim to teach participants in the Jr. Eagles program the power and strength of being part of a team that is accountable to each other, trusts each other and grows together. These attributes of successful teams can not be maximized if players are picking and choosing when to support their teammates.

If a player is choosing to participate on a 2nd team for the purpose of additional skills training / game opportunities, keep in mind we are open to rostering a player on multiple Jr. Eagles teams for the purpose of getting additional playing opportunities when appropriate. We’ve had many players over the years play on a team at their grade and up a grade level at the appropriately competitive levels allowing the player to maximize practice / skills training opportunities.

 

Do Volunteers Coach teams?

Yes, we are a volunteer driven organization and will need assistance coaching teams at all grade levels.

A big part of our program is developing coaches as much as it is developing players and young people.

If we don’t have parent volunteers to lead teams, we will have the team be led by members of our High School program who are very familiar with how we play and how we teach the game.

How do families see practice and game schedules

We have adopted the TeamSnap platform allowing families to see all practice and game schedules via the TeamSnap website or app.

How often will teams practice?

Traditionally teams would practice twice per week with practices usually lasting 60 minutes.

If my child wants to train more often than 2x per week, can they?

Yes, we have players who want to practice more than 2x per week and we invite them to join practices for other teams. Our practice plans are developed by our high school coaches with most of our time dedicated towards developing fundamental basketball and decision making skills needed to play at the high school level.

Is the Jr. Eagles Basketball program a “select” program?

Yes. The Jr. Eagles Basketball program is targeting aspiring high school basketball players. While the program would ideally be able to accommodate all future Liberty High School students interested in playing, limited space for practicing requires we select players most prepared to compete at the levels required to play in the CNR Basketball league.

When possible, we look to include all players interested in participating in the Jr. Eagles Basketball program.

Is the Jr. Eagles Program a year round program?

We will have teams participating in all of the four CNR Basketball League sessions (Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall) with the Winter league being the largest.

Not all of our players will participate in the non-traditional seasons (Spring, Summer and Fall) and that is completely o.k.  We encourage those interested in playing other sports to take a break from basketball and develop as athletes playing their soccer, baseball, football, softball, etc. For those players who do want to keep playing some basketball during the non-traditional seasons we’ll have a team for them.

 

Uniforms – How do I order a new one?

We use STL Shirt Co. located in St. Peters for our uniform needs.  Click this link to access the instructions for ordering a new uniform.  You will have the option to have the uniform order delivered to your home.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQQ6DEPGaWkQz-YsEQUzmu823WzJaYf7ct3RQ9Q0whAtOLRUsjDKVjgkI0CCQ8EIyP4KuaS_qSY_fac/pubhtml

What are the costs associated with participating in the program?

We don’t operate the Jr. Eagles Basketball program for the purpose of generating a profit. All costs incurred are merely passed down to the participating families.

Participants will be responsible for the following:

  • $20 fee collected as you create a profile for your child on TeamSnap.  This $20 covers a portion of our TeamSnap fees and website fees.
  • Uniform fee that will be collected by STL Shirt Co.  This covers the cost of your jersey.
  • Players will get invoiced thru TeamSnap for costs associated with practices, games and a pro-rata share of the program’s insurance policy.

Costs for the winter session (Nov – Mar) will range from $240 – $400 per player, depending on the team they are on. These fees will be invoiced in two parts (Nov – Dec / Jan – Mar). Our older teams will play more games as compared to the younger teams. Some teams will play in two tournaments, while our more active teams will play 4 tournaments.

The program will be paying $30 per hour to rent practice gym space thru the Wentzville School District. The costs associated with renting practice gyms will be shared across all of our teams.

What grade levels do you have teams?

We offer teams at grade levels 2-8 (Boys and Girls).  If we don’t have enough players at the 2nd grade level we’ll invite those players to participate on a 3rd grade team.

8th grade teams are formed for the Fall session (early September – mid October).  Our 8th graders will then have the opportunity to participate on the Frontier Middle School team as part of the Missouri State High School Activities Association calendar  This season normally begins mid-October and goes thru December.  We will then have Jr. Eagles 8th grade teams playing in the CNR league during January – March.

Where and When do games take place?

Games during the Fall, Winter and Spring sessions will be played on Friday evening, Saturday or Sunday. Games during the Summer session are played weeknights, Monday – Friday.

CNR (the league we play in) will look to schedule half our games in our geographical area (St. Charles County) with the other half of our games played at gyms located in West County, North County, Central St. Louis County or South County.

You can expect to make the trip to areas like Fox High School or Lindbergh High School once or twice a season.

Where do teams practice?

Teams will practice at a Wentzville Elementary, Middle or High School or at Lombardo All-American Athlete center. Most of our practices are held at Frontier Middle School starting at either 7pm or 8pm or Prairie View Elementary starting at 6:30pm or 7:30pm.

You can expect multiple teams to be practicing at the same time.  We try to align the teams sharing a gym to be of the same grade level / gender.  This allows the coaches to collaborate and lead the players through skills stations over the first half of a practice. Traditionally teams will then split up and work specifically with their team over the last 20-30 minutes of a practice. Key for our practices is to maximize skill development time.