The Mercer County CYO has scheduled coaches’ meetings in preparation for the organizations 65th season of youth basketball. The 2017-18 season begins 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, with an Opening Day Mass in the Monsignor Toomey Annex at the CYO’s Yardville Branch, 453 Yardville-Allentown Road, Yardville. A slate of games is scheduled later in the day in the CYO Center, 920 S. Broad St., Trenton.
Spots on CYO basketball rosters are open to all Catholic schools students and parishioners in the greater Mercer County area. Varsity leagues are for youth in seventh and eighth grades, junior varsity leagues are for those in fifth and sixth grades and freshmen leagues are for students in fourth grade or younger.
Coaches meetings will held at 6:30 p.m. in the CYO Center, Trenton, on the following dates:
Þ Sept. 14, girls’ freshman coaches
Þ Sept. 18, girls’ JV coaches
Þ Sept. 20, girls’ varsity coaches
Þ Sept. 21, boys’ JV coaches
Þ Sept. 25, boys’ varsity coaches
Þ Sept. 27, boys’ freshman coaches
Each school or parish must send a representative to each league meeting in which it plans to enter a team.
This year the CYO is again looking to have “parish team mergers” for smaller parishes in the county that have not been able to field teams on their own in previous years because of low enrollment. Contact CYO Athletic Director Quincy Walzer by calling 609-396-8383, ext. 14, or emailing Qwalzer@cyomercer.org if your parish is interested in a merged team, and the CYO will help facilitate a partner match.
In addition to the mergers, the CYO will continue to offer its waiver request system for youth who are enrolled in a Catholic school or religious education program at a parish that does not sponsor a team. Those youth who are eligible to play through a granted waiver will be placed on a participating team based on team need and geographical location.