Santa Maria CYO Basketball

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers About CYO Santa Maria Basketball

 What is CYO?

CYO is an acronym for a national organization entitled Catholic Youth Organization. It provides various sports and Santa Maria participates in the West Diablo CYO Basketball League. The league is one of several CYO leagues in the entire Bay Area.

 Who administers the Santa Maria CYO Program?

The Santa Maria CYO Program is run by various volunteer parents who serve on the Santa Maria CYO Board. Some, but not all the Board members, also coach. The Board also interfaces with the leadership of Santa Maria Parish and the Santa Maria Youth Minority Program. As volunteers, they give generously of their time and efforts.

 Do I have to be a member of Santa Maria Parish to play CYO?

No. But, with some exceptions, you have to live in the Parish boundaries (i.e. – Orinda)

 Who coaches the CYO teams?

CYO basketball coaches are volunteers and are, in the vast majority of cases, parents. The Santa Maria CYO Board is continuously looking for interested parents to coach. It is obviously helpful to have an understanding of basketball. However, a more important quality is the desire and enthusiasm to work with kids in an atmosphere that is consistent with the CYO mission statement.

 Why doesn’t CYO hire and/or pay coaches?

First, CYO is an entirely volunteer organization and the organization forbids the hiring of coaches. As you might expect, paying coaches creates several problems including inequities that can result if certain parishes have the funds available to hire coaches while other do not. Moreover, hiring coaches would minimize the community aspect of the program. Finally, we simply do not have the funds available to hire youth coaches. Those that are interested in this kind of approach, should look outside of the CYO, such as the AAU basketball.

 How is the league schedule set and how is it decided where the games are played?

The game schedule and venues are determined by the West Diablo League. The league has over the years obtained the use of various gyms. However, there is limited space in the East Bay and, thus, it is sometimes required for teams to travel to locations such as Martinez to play games (even when they are playing a Moraga or Lafayette team.) You should note also that many of the gyms in the Lamorinda area are not available to CYO for a variety of reasons. For example, many of the school gyms are closed on weekends, a decision made by the school district and not Santa Maria or West Diablo CYO League.

 Why are the registration fees high?

The registration fees are determined by the cost for running the program and are not an arbitrary or set number. The majority of CYO expenses involve charges for gym time. Gym time in our area is very expensive (even the amount is charged to us by the School District and the City of Orinda). With that noted, we believe the registration fees are in line with other such organizations as MOL, OBA, etc.

 Why can’t we have more practices?

The short answer is we do not have enough gym time to offer more practice time. Thanks to the tireless efforts of several Santa Maria CYO Board members, we have increased the amount of gym time we do have. Still, it is very limited. You should also know, that CYO teams, at least in our area, only have one practice a week. We are very proud that we offer most of our team two practices a week and are always trying to discover more gym time.

 Why are there two different levels at CYO?

The CYO league has an American and National league, with the American league being considered the more “competitive league.” The idea is to provide an opportunity for all kids to play but also try to balance the various talent levels. On occasions, the league will also form an “American 2” league. This is for teams and players that are somewhere in between the American and National leagues. This is usually done for the older grades but only when there is enough interest and players as determined by the League and the athletic directors.

 How does Santa Maria choose teams?

The issue of team selection has been a lightning rod for discontent for some. In fact, in the history of Santa Maria CYO, there have been lawsuits filed, subpoenas issued and other illustrations of parents’ frustrations and anger. Still, we ask all to understand that the Board members, coaches and volunteer neutral evaluators do their very best to try to place the kids in a situation where they are most likely to succeed. Again, this is a church recreational basketball league and if it does not meet your expectations, we invite you to look at such other opportunities such as AAU basketball.

The team selection process is determined in several steps. The first step is to try to determine which players should play on the American level. To do so, coaches are requested to submit player evaluations at the close of the season. These evaluations are then saved and become part of the evaluation for the following year. Moreover, we ask neutral evaluators (those who aren’t coaching at this grade) and sometimes coaches to observe the kids in the preseason evaluations. We understand that one or even two evaluations are not going to provide a perfect opportunity to determine skill levels. However, when we look at prior coaches evaluations and measure it against the current level of skill, we have our best opportunity of selecting and balancing the teams.

If we have enough players to have more than one national team, the goal is to split the national team so that the talent is even. In this process, we take into consideration factors such as who the coaches are, friendship, carpooling opportunities, etc.

 If a player is placed on the National League team as a younger player, will he always be on the National team?

No! We have had many examples of kids going from National to American or from American to National. We are especially sensitive to this and try to look for that player who has worked very hard over the summer to develop his/her skills, has had a growth spurt and has generally shown that they are ready for the more competitive league.

 Why do the uniforms never seem to fit younger kids?

Great question and something we are working on with our vendors.

 Why does the League schedule games on holiday weekends such as Presidents Day weekend?

We have no control over this issue since the league’s schedule is determined by the West Diablo League. We have voiced this complaint the League and will continue to press for a change. Realize, however, that there are only so many weekends, limited available gyms, many teams and lots of games to be played.