Basketball - Girls

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We are a Christian Homeschool basketball team for homeschool athletes in the Northwest Arkansas area interested in playing competitive basketball. We offer teams from 10U thru 18U/Varsity depending on the availability of players and coaches. We are are a non-profit volunteer organization and exist solely to bless the homeschool community in the area.

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16/18U - Birthdate range is 8/2/2005 - 8/1/2009 (must be 18 or younger on 8/1)

This will be our only team that isn't made up of all homeschool students because we won't have enough to form a complete team this year. We are currently planning on joining forces with Haas Hall Bentonville.

Coach - Mark Sistoso

Asst Coaches - ??

Practice Schedule - ?? should know by mid August

First Game - Oct 25

Game Schedule - will be listed on this website soon

Number of games this season - 10-14

Tournaments - None because not all players will be homeschooled

14U - Birthdate range is 8/2/2009 - 8/1/2011 (must be 14 or younger on 8/1)

Coaches - Head Coach - Kate Pantier - katepantier@gmail.com

Asst Coaches - Joseph Toddy, Todd Pantier, and Lara Little

Practice Schedule - Mon, Tues, Thurs or Friday evenings at the AAO (3 per week until games start)

First Game - Oct 26

Game Schedule - will be listed on this website soon

Number of games this season - 30-40 including tournaments

Tournaments - Districts?? (Lawrence, Jan 30-31), State (Conway, Feb 6-8),

Regionals (Lawrence, Feb 20-21), Nationals (Springfield, Mar 10-14)

12U - Birthdate range is 8/2/2011 - 8/1/2013 (must be 12 or younger on 8/1)

Coaches - Head Coach - Kate Pantier - katepantier@gmail.com

Asst Coaches - Joseph Toddy, Todd Pantier, and Lara Little

Practice Schedule - Mon, Tues, Thurs or Friday evenings at the AAO (2-3 per week until games start)

First Game - Oct 24

Game Schedule - will be listed on this website soon

Number of games this season - 20-30 including tournaments

Tournaments - State (Conway, Feb 6-8), Regionals (Lawrence, Feb 20-21),

Nationals (Springfield, Mar 10-14)

10U - Birthdate range is 8/2/2013 - 8/1/2016 (must be 10 or younger on 8/1)

Coaches - Head Coach - Stephen Fulton - stephenfulton@icloud.com

Asst Coaches - Robin Fulton, Joseph Toddy

Practice Schedule - Mon, Tues, or Friday evenings (2 per week) at Lowell Baptist

First Game - Nov 2

Game Schedule - will be listed on this website soon

Number of games this season - 15-20 including tournaments and depends on other

teams being able to form a 10U girls team. Could be more if we are able to get into the local AAO league

Tournaments - TuneUP?? (Springfield, Dec 13), State (Conway, Feb 6-8),

Regionals?? (Lawrence, Feb 20-21), Nationals (Springfield, Mar 10-14)

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When will the Season Registration open and how much does it cost?

Season registration usually opens in early August. We will always post updates here and on our social media accounts when registrations go live.

The cost varies from season to season and from team to team. The registration fees for the older teams are typically more expensive than the younger teams simply because the costs are higher. As mentioned above, we are a non-profit organization, so 100% of the fees we bring in go toward our costs for the season (court costs, referee costs, uniforms, insurance, tournament fees, equipment etc.). We also strive to keep the costs as low as possible. For a ballpark figure, our 16U boys season fees in 2023 were $675, and the youngest teams were around $400. There are a lot of factors that go into determining those figures that change from year to year, but that gives a general idea of what to expect. We also offer a payment plan that will allow you to pay the fee in 3 or 4 installments.

What is your definition of Homeschool?

There are many different versions and interpretations of what it means to Homeschool. We want to include as many people as possible, but there some kids that "homeschool" that aren't eligible to play for us. We follow the requirements as set by the post season tournaments that we play in.

Here is the bottom line, in order to be eligible to play for us, you must:

1. Be required to fill out an intent to Homeschool form with the state each year. if you are not required to fill out that form, then you are likely not considered homeschooled as defined by our league rules.
2. The curriculum that the student uses must be parent directed. There can be non-parent teachers, but the parent must have control of the courses that the student takes, and must have a say in when and how school work is completed.
3. Students can take courses at a highschool or college, but this must account for less than 50% of the student's total work load.

if you have any questions about this, feel free to reach out to us at nwahornetsbasketball@gmail.com

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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 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.

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

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If you are a coach or scheduler and would like to schedule a game with us, you can contact our basketball director, Reagan Baber, at nwahornetsbasketball@gmail.com

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This is a list of trainers that we trust, and several of our players have trained with them. They all offer private and small group lessons. You can contact them for details on cost and availability.

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This season we only had 4 homeschool high school girls, but we partnered with some girls from Haas Hall who weren't going to have enough to have a team either. This allowed our girls to have a season, learn how to play as a team, and not miss out on a season of individual skill development. Big thank you to our friends at Haas Hall and to our coaches Mark Sistoso and Larry Tinkler. With their help we were able to have a great season will several awesome wins! We were also able to provide a final season to a couple seniors which we honored at our last home game. One of those seniors was a homeschool athlete that has competed with the Hornets for several years....Lauren Tinkler.

Lauren Tinkler excelled as a dual athlete in high school. She played softball and had several offers to play in college. She also played basketball with the Hornets for several years and was a dynamic scorer. Lauren was a great teammate, and we are so glad we got to watch her compete one last time! She had a fantastic career and an awesome Senior season. She has decided to continue her education at Arkansas Tech.

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At this time I don't know of any 18U girls that will play with us next season, but there are 3 girls that played on this high school team that will be 16U next season. We are looking for a few more so that we can have a 16U team next season. If you know of anyone that might be interested...please send them our way!

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We didn't have a 14U Girls team in 2023-24, but we are excited that we will have one next season. Several of the 12U girls will move up and we are expecting to add a few more players to the team as well.

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Our 12U Girls had a great season!! Many of the girls were playing competitive basketball for the first time this season. Watching their improvement and growth as a team over the course of the season was so fun to see!! These girls compete hard and love being with each other. We are so glad they are all Hornets, they are going to be fun to watch for many years to come!! Several of these girls will move up to 14U next year, while many others will continue with the 12U team next year looking to build on their success from this season.

State Tournament - 4th Place (Milena Fulton and Alaina Toddy made the all-tournament team)

National Tournament - We didn't place, but played some hard fought games, and were able to win a few of them. We also got to end the season on a high note by winning our last game of the year in exciting fashion.

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Our 10U Girls were really fun to watch this season!! We were a really young team, and it made their growth this season really fun to watch! They play so hard and love to cheer each other on. They won some hard fought games this season, and lost a few heartbreakers, but they always left all they had on the floor. They are going to be a force to reckon with as they continue to improve their skills and play as a team! Several of these girls will continue playing 10U ball next season while a couple of them move on to the 12U team.

State Tournament - 4th Place (Lizzi Bird, Charlotte Bryner, and Madeline Fulton made the all-tournament team)

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