Willow Glen National Junior Basketball

An Overview of the Program

What is NJB?
The National Junior Basketball program is designed to introduce, teach and develop the fundamentals of basketball to our local youth – as well as to promote good sportsmanship, teamwork and healthy competition. We feel this creates a valuable learning experience for the children of our community. The program also promotes self-esteem through teamwork. National Junior Basketball is a non-profit organization. Our funding is entirely dependent upon the contributions of local businesses and individuals, along with registration fees.

What is Willow Glen NJB?
Willow Glen National Junior Basketball League (WGNJB) is located in the Willow Glen area of San Jose and operates youth basketball leagues for boys and girls from third grade through eighth grade. NJB is not a recreation district, government agency, or community program with a paid staff and its own gymnasiums. NJB is a group of parents dedicated to providing a fun, valuable experience for their children. The local chapter is affiliated with National Junior Basketball headquartered in Santa Ana, California (www.njbl.org).

Willow Glen NJB local territory consist of zip codes of 95125, part of some neighboring codes and spans roughly the triangle between Hwy 280 to HWY 87 to HWY 85 to Bascom.

How does the program work?
The program consists of two groups, Divisional Group and All-Net Group.

I. Divisional Group program is divided into Boys and Girls leagues, each having three divisions:

Division I - 7th and 8th grades

Division II - 5th and 6th grades

Division III - 3rd and 4th grades

Mandatory evaluations are held in October. A blind draft is conducted for each division and strict procedures are adhered to in order to assure evenly matched teams.NJB emphasizes teaching basketball skills and sportsmanship through participation.

Each player must play two full eight-minute periods in each five-period game.

Each player must also sit out at least one full period in each game.

Coaches and players are required to comply with a strict code of conduct or they will be removed from the league.

The draft is conducted according to the Griffin Method outlined in National Junior Basketball's Blue Book.

II. All-Net Group consists of highly skilled players that want to play at a high level of competition. The group will consist of one team each for Boys in grade 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th. There is also an equivalent set for the girls All-Net team.

Players are selected for the All-Net teams.

Mandatory try-outs are held in October.

A draft is conducted for each team.

All-Net teams play by high school rules with no guarantee of playing time.

When does the league run?
Registration usually begins around the middle of August. Tryouts and evaluations usually happens around the end of September. The draft is completed in October. Practice begins in October. League games will be played on Sundays in December, January, and February, for a total of ten games for Division Teams and fourteen games for All-Net Teams. The league rests during Christmas vacation and President Holiday Weekend. The times for practices and games are determined by which team your child plays on.

Can I request a division team or coach for my player?
No. The purpose of evaluations is to form teams with parity. Granting requests for certain teams or coaches disrupts the process in which the teams are formed.

NJB All-Star Teams.
At the end of the regular season, All-Star teams will be selected from each division. These teams participate in NJB-wide All-Star tourney.

The 2007-2008 Board of Directors
Mike Goode - President
Jim Goudreau - Chapter Director
Todd Meeker - Vice President and Director of Basketball
Nancy Sullivan - Treasurer
Mark Yoshino - Girls Player Agent
Mike Morgan - Member at large
Scott Leahy - Director of Information
Michelle Leahy - Webmaster