Can my homeschooled athlete play for a school team and for the Hornets?

No, kids are not allowed to play for any school team and for the Hornets at the same time. There is a path for transferring from a school team to our team, but this is handled on a case by case basis and you would need to reach out to us to get more information about this process.

On a related note...kids that go to a school that does not offer basketball are NOT eligible to play for us because they don't meet the homeschooling requirements.

Do you have tryouts?

No, we have never had tryouts before, it might be something we need to consider as we continue to grow, but so far we haven't held tryouts for any team.

That being said we also don't guarantee playing time. (See more in the "competitive team" section)

What does being a Competitive Team mean?

Being a competitive team means we are a team that puts a priority on winning games and competing for championships. We are Christians first, and will play, compete, and conduct ourselves in a Christ-like manner, but we also compete to win.

What this means practically is that we don't guarantee playing time for any player. This is in contrast to a rec league team which focuses on recreation and equal playing time.

Every player will get equal practice time, and equal opportunity to play and/or improve their skills to work towards more playing time. But, there will be some players that get far more playing time than others...especially on teams that have a lot of players (10 or more).

Side note: Team practices during the season are just that....they are team focused. There will obviously be some individual skill work done in practice, but the majority of the time will be team focused. If a player is needing to improve their individual skills they will need to devote time outside of the team practices to work on those skills. If you need more information about what to work on or what to do, you can talk to your athlete's coach. They can refer you to a trainer or give you some drills they can do at home on their own.

When will Practices start, where are they located, and what time are they?

I won't have specific answers to this question until Late July or August. But generally practices start in mid-August or September.

Location varies a bit because we don't have our own facility (yet). But, typically practices will be held at the Rogers AAO or at First Baptist Lowell. These gyms are only about 1.5 miles apart.

Time varies as well depending on gym and coach availability. Typically our 10, 12, and 14U teams practice twice per week. I'm expecting practice to be on Tuesday and Friday evenings this season. Our 16U and 18U teams typically practice 3 times per week and I'm expecting those to be Monday, Tuesday and Friday evenings.

When and where are games played, and do you travel?

Games will begin in late October. The regular season will conclude in early February. There will be a few post season tournaments in February and the season will conclude with the national tournament in Springfield, MO in early March. (Note - our 10U teams have typically ended their season with the state tournament in mid February, but they can go to Nationals as well if there is enough interest).

We don't have set game days, but most games fall on Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. We will occasionally play on Monday or Friday but never Wednesday or Sunday.

Home games are typically played at the Rogers AAO or at the Jones Center in Springdale.

We will play some teams in or near the NWA area, but we will also travel some to play other homeschool teams. Most of the travel will not require an overnight stay until tournament play at the end of the season. (I think there will be 1 overnight for the younger teams and 2 for the older teams during the regular season). The farthest we will travel during the regular season is Tulsa, Springfield, MO, and Little Rock. The post season tournaments are located in Conway, Springfield MO, and Lawrence Kansas

What is the level of competition like?

Each team and each season is a little different. There is also a lot of variability with homeschool teams. Some of them are very talented and would easily compete at the 2 or 3A (possibly even 4A) level in Arkansas. I would say most teams we play would be comparable to a 1 or 2A highschool team.

What teams do you play?

There are anywhere from 6 to 9 homeschool basketball teams in Arkansas depending on the age group and the year. We make every effort to play each of them at least once per year. We will also play homeschool teams from Oklahoma and Missouri during the regular season. After that we will fill out our schedule with private, charter, or public schools located in the Northwest Arkansas area.

All of the postseason tournaments we play in are homeschool only tournaments, and will include teams from all over the country, and some of them are very talented.

What team will my athlete be on, and what are the age limits?

We divide teams by age and will offer 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, and 18U teams for both boys and girls depending on availability of players and coaches.

The birthday cutoff date is August 1st. For example, if your athlete is 14 on August 1 they would be on a 14U team that year. Even if they turn 15 on Aug 2. This rule applies for each age division and applies to both girls and boys.

Typically the youngest age we allow on our 10U teams is 8, but we have occasionally had kids a little younger than that on our 10U teams.

A player that turns 19 on or before August 1 has aged out and is no longer eligible to play with us. There are many kids that graduate from high school, and don't turn 19 until after August 1st. These kids wouldn't be eligible either....an athlete must still be working toward a high school diploma to be eligible to play on our team.

Can my athlete play up or down an age group?

We never allow athletes to play down an age group, that is against the league rules.

We do occasionally allow athletes to play up an age group, but this is based on necessity and/or player ability. It is common for homeschool teams to have a few players that play on more than one team, but it's usually because one of the teams is low on numbers and needs another player or 2.

The decision to do this will be made by the director and the coaches involved. This isn't something that can just be requested by the player or parents. There will need to be team-based reason for a player to play up.

My athlete is interested in playing in college. Is that possible if they play homeschool basketball?

Yes!

College sports aren’t for everyone. There are many kids that play for us that have no interest in playing at the next level…and that is totally fine. However, if your athlete does have an interest in playing in college, we are getting resources in place right now to assist kids with this very thing. We have a few boys on our 16/18U teams that are very interested in playing at the next level, and we are doing all we can to help them fulfill that dream. There are kids playing on college teams at all levels that played on a homeschool team in highschool. At the homeschool national tournament this past season there were at least 5 players committed to play at a D1 school, and many others committed to smaller colleges.

Bottom line, the answer is yes, and we want to help make that a reality if your athlete is interested.

if your athlete is in highschool (or will be starting highschool soon) and is interested in playing in college…let us know and we can discuss it further.

Do you offer scholarships?

We are a non-profit organization, so we have limited funds for scholarships, but we are occasionally able to offer scholarships or find someone willing to sponsor a player. You can contact the director for more information and for a link to a scholarship application. contact Reagan at nwahornetsbasketball@gmail.com