BASKETBALL
One of our winter Special Olympics sports is basketball. St. Cloud Area Basketball runs from February to April with practice usually at Discovery Elementary School. We offer team events as well as individual skills competitions that help athletes train and compete in basic basketball skills before advancing to team play. Depending on the coaches and number of athletes, we have a number of full and half-court teams and the option of individual skills competition.
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Practices are held weekly (usually on Thursday evenings) for an hour and fifteen minutes The team warms up together and then divides into their assigned teams. Team assignments are done in the first couple of weeks by grouping athletes of similar ability and determining if they are going to be playing half-court of full-court basketball.
Half-court teams play 3 on 3 and range from 4 to 6 players on a team, full-court teams range from 8-10 players. We focus on conditioning and developing skills to the best of their abilities by using lots of encouragement and positive feedback.
When we attend Regional and Area competitions teams are put into divisions according to their general ability. If an athlete prefers not to be a part of the competition please make sure the head coach knows at the beginning of the season so that teams have adequate numbers for competition. Basketball and swimming do sometimes conflict at State Games so discuss your plans for both sports with the Head Coaches.
Athletes wear comfortable athletic clothing for practice with a good pair of tennis shoes. (We ask that athletes bring their shoes and change into them to keep the gym floor clean and dry). All athletes receive a St. Cloud Area shirt and many choose to wear them to practices. For competitions, the athletes will have a uniform consisting of shorts and a basketball shirt that they will return at the end of the season. The St. Cloud Area basketball shirt is the uniform for competition.
Head Coach: Issy Lieser