Basketball Guidelines

Return to Play after Covid Delay

As restrictions lift, New Providence Police Athletic League is working toward starting our 2020 Basketball season. Our paramount objective is the safety of our players, coaches and spectators.  Here’s our plan, based on the New Jersey Department of Health guidelines at the moment.

Player Participation Guidelines

• Each player should bring their own basketball – sharing is prohibited
• Participants will be required to social distance whenever possible
• Players will have access to hand sanitizer provided by the coach for frequent disinfecting
• Players should have a mask available in the event they are required to wear one
• Players must conduct temperature checks and complete a health questionnaire before every session
• Players will be prohibited from attending any session if they are sick
• Parents are discouraged from carpooling
• Parents must sign a waiver indemnifying the coaches and PAL of any liability related to infectious diseases

Coaching Guidelines

• Coaches will be required to wear masks when social distancing cannot be maintained
• Coaches will remind participants to maintain social distancing when possible
• Coaches must conduct temperature checks and complete a health questionnaire of all personnel prior to the start of each session
• Coaches will be prohibited from attending any session if they are sick

General Information

The PAL Basketball program offers a competitive program for boys and girls in grades 4-8 who reside in town. Through a tryout process in late September, teams are chosen to represent New Providence in a competitive travel league and play other towns in the area.

Due to a lack of available gym time in town, there is typically only one boys team and one girls team sponsored per grade. Unfortunately, this does not allow for all who are interested to be able to play on the PAL team. It is for this reason, that those who make their respective teams are expected to be fully committed to their team. PAL encourages kids to participate in multiple sports and activities, but given the relatively small number of players on a typical basketball team (10), TEAM success is greatly reduced if multiple players are routinely absent due to other commitments. We expect that if offered a spot on a team, PAL Basketball be the priority sport during the winter months ahead of other teams (i.e. CYO; AAU) or off-season activities (i.e. soccer; baseball).  Feel free to reach out with any questions regarding this.