Frequently Asked Questions

For each gender-grade group in Grades 4 through 8, we aim to assemble at least one team, with two being the goal. If we have more than 30 registrants for a given gender-grade group we can consider forming three teams. We typically place eighteen to twenty teams and more than 200 players in the MetroWest league.

Preseason practices start in early November, and our program hosts a preseason tournament the weekend before Thanksgiving. The MetroWest travel basketball season begins in earnest the first weekend of December and involves 12 regular-season games (almost always on Sundays) followed by single-elimination playoffs over a few weeks in early March. All told, it’s a four-month season. Some coaches and teams try to schedule additional games and/or will play in optional holiday tournaments, but this is done in coordination with families, and players are not expected or required to attend those optional tournaments. The only two tournaments that are compulsory for our program are the preseason “Eagle” tournament and the MetroWest playoffs. Expect two practices per week, usually on weeknights, at Dana Barros Basketball Club in Stoughton, Mass Premier Courts in Foxboro, or other local gyms, potentially some in Sharon. We cannot provide more-specific information about practice or game schedules until shortly before the preseason starts, when coaches have been identified, gym rentals are sorted out, and the league has built a schedule for some 1000+ teams in eastern Massachusetts. Likewise, we cannot promise to accommodate players who have very busy schedules, including commitments to other sports programs. Our expectation: Players are going to attend at least 75% of the team’s activities, including practices and games. We typically do not hold practices during the school vacation weeks in December and February.

No. "Rec" basketball, which is run by the Sharon Recreation Department, offers games and practices to players in Grades 3 through 12, entirely within the town of Sharon. Rec ball also has an ‘equal playing time’ mandate. The Sharon Travel Basketball Association's games are played against other towns in the MetroWest league, and our program does not have a mandate around equal playing time. However, Rec and STBA do attempt to work together to avoid as many scheduling conflicts as possible, and STBA notifies Rec of which travel teams Rec players are on so Rec can attempt to form balanced teams for its own purposes. We encourage players to participate in both programs if possible but it is not a requirement.

No.

Typically, late September or early October. We must hold tryouts well in advance of the actual season so we can assemble rosters, enter them into the MetroWest league, recruit and assign coaches, order uniforms, and plan our program's participation in a fundraising preseason tournament.

A typical tryout for a given group involves two 90 minute sessions over two nights, for a total of three hours, at Mass Premier Courts in Foxboro or other local gyms.  

Evaluators and Coaches are involved in ensuring a tryout runs effectively.

Evaluators tend to be current or former STBA board members, experienced local coaches, or other adults who have backgrounds in basketball and a connection to Sharon. An evaluator is assigned to a given group only if he or she does not have a child in that group (or in the same grade) and otherwise does not have connections to the players in the group or to any of the players’ parents.

Evaluators provide the coaches with direction in terms of drills, games and matchups they would like to see on the court. Some areas of focus for the evaluators include:

• Basketball Skill
• Basketball IQ
• Athleticism
• Sportsmanship/ teamwork
• And other intangibles 

Coaches who worked with the teams in previous seasons  typically run the tryouts. They speak directly with players and direct the drills. (For 4th-grade groups, the tryouts tend to be run/coached by board members or experienced STBA coaches.) 

Coaches that have been in the program and are in good standing with the Board have an increasing amount of impact on roster construction in the upper middle school grades. In these grades, coaches provide input to the evaluation process based on past performance, behavior challenges, practice and game attendance and specific positional needs and skill balance. These things also factor into final team placements. 

If the tryout group has 20 or more players, the program will most likely form 2 teams. If the number is 30+, we may consider forming 3 teams. 

By the end of the tryout, the evaluators for that group have ranked and/or grouped the players by overall ability. Roster placements are submitted to the Board at the completion of tryouts. The Board reviews all rosters across all grades and considers many factors that will influence the ability to make multiple teams, including the overall strength of the class,  the ability to place teams in appropriate divisions, and the amount of gym space available to STBA.

Sharon Travel Basketball is a competitive program, and there is no guarantee that a tryout attendee will be offered a place on a roster.

Within days of the end of tryouts. The STBA board meets immediately after tryouts are finished to review evaluators’ choices, determine the overall scope of our program for the coming season, and finalize rosters. Rosters are announced via email within a few days of that board meeting. Soon thereafter, players are invited to register for the actual season. It is our hope that rostered players who opt to not participate in the season will make this decision known to STBA as soon as possible, whether that’s before or shortly after rosters have been announced, to minimize changes to the proposed rosters.

The travel basketball team your child plays on in any given season is not predictive of future placement or success in this or any other basketball program. Some players tend to be on the A team every year, others tend to be on the B, while others move back and forth. Some players have been on A, B, and C teams over the course of three seasons in this program before moving on to play for Sharon High School basketball teams. Things change, and our rosters can and do change accordingly.

The season fee will be approximately $450. This covers practice time, games (league fee, referee fees), playoffs, the preseason tournament, and equipment. There is a small fee for participation in tryouts. If needed, new uniforms cost about $90. We do not require new uniforms every year. In fact, we strongly encourage families to purchase uniforms that players can grow into and use for multiple seasons. Additional, optional tournaments cost about $10-20 per player for 2-5 games. Again, participation in these extra tournaments is optional, not required. (Note: Some movement of players from B teams to A teams is allowed for the optional tournaments, at the coaches' discretion.)

Most STBA coaches are parents of players on the teams. New coaching candidates must apply to the STBA and be vetted by our coaches committee. All coaches must pass an annual CORI check and formally reapply via an online application. Other parents can help out by manning the scorer’s table (scoreboard and scorebook) at home games or serving as team admins. Note: Decisions around coaching are made after the rosters are announced, NOT before. Therefore, we do not open up the coach application process until that point.

Aside from receiving an STBA coach’s shirt, no, the parent coaches are not compensated at all. We may hire other “professional”, non-parent coaches to conduct skills-centric practice sessions, and these coaches are compensated.

Each player should have a basketball, a water bottle, appropriate footwear, and appropriate clothing for practice. Grade 4 and 5 girls use a 27.5” ball, per Metrowest rules. Boys in Grades 4-6 and girls in Grades 6 and up use a 28.5” ball. Boys in Grades 7-8 use a 29.5” ball. Our program provides balls for league games.

Our program is in the winter, starting with tryouts in the fall and ending with playoffs in early March. There are other basketball programs in the Sharon area for AAU ball, skills clinics, camps, private training sessions, basketball fitness, and more. Coaches and members of the STBA board can help point players to some of these programs, and some coaches might actively keep momentum going from one season to the next by organizing some scrimmages or summer-league teams, but these are not formal, STBA activities. We are holding a summer skills clinic with the SHS coaches in July of 2025 and it that goes well we may do so again in future summer.