With over a century of combined basketball playing, coaching, and event operating experience, we’re no strangers to the world of youth sports and more specifically organized club basketball. Through our combined personal and professional experiences in the industry, we have developed a unique and thorough understanding of the industry including its history and development despite longstanding problems and shortcomings.

While there is a lot of good to be celebrated and recognized in the club basketball world, our company has identified some long-standing issues that have no place in our sport’s community.  

Open Gym Premier, in partnership with Grassroots 365 and the Elite Basketball Circuit, is launching the following initiatives in order to do our part as a long-standing leader in the industry to make the youth basketball community better for all of the athletes that we provide a platform to.

Sportsmanship:

We are here to provide a safe space and platform for young athletes to develop and showcase their talents, create positive memories to look back on, and learn valuable life lessons and skills. Open Gym Premier, Grassroots 365, and the Elite Basketball Circuit have a zero-tolerance policy in place for the following unsportsmanlike conduct:

• Fighting and physical altercations of any kind
• Verbal abuse including the use of any offensive or foul language directed at another individual
• Use of any slurs towards another individual based on race, color, gender, or sexual orientation
• Taunting used intentionally to demean or intimidate another individual
• Negative comments directed at another organization, team, or individual on OGP, G365, or EBC social media accounts

Any spectator, coach, player, or official found to be in violation of the above listed policies will be removed from this and potentially all future Open Gym Premier, Grassroots 365, Elite Basketball Circuit events depending upon the severity of the violation. 

Once again, we are here to provide a safe and positive environment for young athletes. Please help us in our efforts to improve the broader basketball community by being part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Control your actions and provide a better example for the next generation. 

Age/Grade Eligibility Requirements:

The abuse of age/grade eligibility guidelines in the club basketball world has become a major problem with direct consequences that harms the development of all parties involved. When a player plays or is played down in a division they are not eligible for, THEY DO NOT DEVELOP PROPERLY.

In other words, directors, coaches, and parents who knowingly allow their child to play down a division to gain a competitive advantage, are actively hurting that player’s ability to reach their maximum potential.

Additionally, this creates a greater likelihood for less competitive games for opponents who do play by the rules and directly harms their development and confidence levels as well. Keep in mind that it is a goal of many club basketball players to play in high school, college, or beyond one day.

There comes a time in every athlete’s career where they will have to play against older competition. When that time comes, players who have been challenged throughout their key developmental years by proper competition will be much better prepared for success than those who have spent that same time playing down against younger competition.

In an effort to better educate the basketball community, we have provided our standard age and grade eligibility rules for all directors, coaches, and spectators to see. Our goal in doing this is to increase awareness as it has become more and more apparent to us that many parents of young athletes do not fully understand the eligibility requirements. Hopefully, in doing so, less parents, coaches, and directors will knowingly engage in decision-making that actively hurts the development of the young athletes they care for. 

The Age/Grade Eligibility rules are as follows:

Gold divisions for all OGP/Grassroots 365 tournaments are grade-based. Under these rules, any player who shows current proof of grade (report card, progress report, or school ID) is eligible to play for that grade level. All other divisions are age-based with two (2) grade exceptions allowed per team.

Example- A player playing 13U/7th grade who shows proof that they are currently in 7th grade regardless of their birthdate is eligible to play as a grade exception.

However, birthdate is still relevant. For example, please note that a player who is in 8th grade could still conceivably play 13U/7th Grade division if he fits into the correct age range.

See age ranges below:

8U / 2nd Grade

An athlete can be no older than 8 on August 31, 2022

Birthday Range: September 1, 2013 – Present

If a player was born before 9/1/2013 BUT is in the 2nd grade, that player is eligible for 8U as an exception

9U / 3rd Grade

An athlete can be no older than 9 on August 31, 2022

Birthday Range: September 1, 2012 – Present

If a player was born before 9/1/2012 BUT is in the 3rd grade, that player is eligible for 9U as an exception

10U / 4th Grade

An athlete can be no older than 10 on August 31, 2022

Birthday Range: September 1, 2011 – Present

If a player was born before 9/1/2011 BUT is in the 4th grade, that player is eligible for 10U as an exception

11U / 5th Grade

An athlete can be no older than 11 on August 31, 2022

Birthday Range: September 1, 2010 – Present

If a player was born before 9/1/2010 BUT is in the 5th grade, that player is eligible for 11U as an exception

12U / 6th Grade

An athlete can be no older than 12 on August 31, 2022

Birthday Range: September 1, 2009 – Present

If a player was born before 9/1/2009 BUT is in the 6th grade, that player is eligible for 12U as an exception

13U / 7th Grade

An athlete can be no older than 13 on August 31, 2022

Birthday Range: September 1, 2008 – Present

If a player was born before 9/1/2008 BUT is in the 7th grade, that player is eligible for 13U as an exception

14U / 8th Grade

An athlete can be no older than 14 on August 31, 2022

Birthday Range: September 1, 2007 – Present

If a player was born before 9/1/2007 BUT is in the 8th grade, that player is eligible for 14U as an exception

Be part of the solution. Do not knowingly contribute to harming the development of your child by allowing them to play in a division they are ineligible for. Rather, challenge them properly and help contribute to their long-term success! 

How is the problem being addressed?

The Passport is an all-in-one solution for one-time player eligibility verification, event participation tracking, player and team statistics, photo and video memories, player and team exposure, awards, and more. Our proprietary blend of digital features allows programs, teams, and players to store their valued memories, accolades, and accomplishments through their very own unique online profile. All it takes is a one-time registration process and we take care of the rest. 

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Features:

• One-time digital verification for player eligibility that lasts for their entire amateur athletic career 
• Real-time player statistics from every game
• Online program and roster verification process for all events
• Professional profile headshots for all players free of charge! 
• Event awards stored directly on player profiles
• Top weekend stats performers
• All tournament teams
• Player and program of the month recognition
• Team rankings 
• Player achievement badges unlocked by on-court accomplishments over time
• Program and team statistics, records, and awards on digital profiles
• Coach profiles with statistics and awards
• Team standings pages from all events
• Player stat leaderboards by division

For the 2021-2022 club basketball season, ALL PLAYERS must pay an annual fee to unlock their player passport to become eligible for Grassroots 365 events and gain access to the additional features provided at every tournament.

Players must purchase their annual Passport membership prior to the start of the event using the link provided HERE

Have you claimed your profile? 

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