Hooptown USA

★SpokaneDressage

I am so disappointed with this league and the leadership. We started the season off with the director on the court cussing on the floor while 2nd and third graders were warming up. Then the reffing has been so bad throughout the season I found my self going to the lead refs asking them how on earth they can allow another teams coach to “cheer” against the opposing teams players (who are 8 yrs old btw!!!) only to be told that I needed to send an email and complain?!? Who’s in charge if not the ref? The reffing gets highly questioned when they don’t stop play when two players are hurt, crying on the court and a parent has to step in and ask the ref to stop play?!? Just so disappointed

★Jake Nordmeyer

I would give a 0 star if it was an option. Referees were horrible. A poorly organized organization. Not good for a childs progress.

★Jeffrey Hills

Two years in a row we signed up for elementary level (4th and 5th grade) youth recreational basketball. So our daughter could learn the basics of the game. Keep in mind there is a competitive division for those that want higher level play. This league fails in all regards. Last year our team of 6 girls was forced to forfeit games because not everyone could show up to all of the games, other teams all had 8-12 players. Rather than splitting us up they forced us to stay as one team. While our volunteer coach was awesome and we managed to win games it was still badly organized. Multiple games were at Liberty Lake forcing us to drive over 45 minutes in bad weather on multiple weekends. This year we signed up for 5th grade girls rec ball and were placed on a team with 9 fifth graders and 3 sixth graders. We then were put in a schedule playing teams exclusively of sixth graders. In the rec league we routinely had scores run up against us and opposing teams where all the players were a foot taller than us because of the age difference. There were multiple teams in our area in this league of all fifth graders, there was no reason to put us in this position. The league either doesn’t care or isn’t able to match teams fairly by age nor do they consistently apply the stated rules or have consistent officiating. We won’t be back. Which is sad because our daughter loved basketball before these league experiences. Now she doesn’t.

★Steve

My son was on a third grade team that had several minority kids. Throughout the season there was a particular referee that was biased in the way he called our team's games. This was frustrating for the players, coaches and parents. The last season game our assistant coach questioned this one sided refereeing in the second half of the game. This resulted in the assistant coach being ejected from the game, in which he left without incident. After the game, no communication from the league was sent out to the team regarding that decision. When the team showed up at the tournament the next weekend we were informed by the league official that our assistant coach had been ejected for the remainder of the season. The assistant coach left the building at that time. The head coach questioned the official's justification of that decision without yelling, cussing, or anything disrespectful. There was no opportunity or room for explanation from the league. The league official responded by ejecting the whole team out of the remainder of the tournament and calling the police to have the team escorted out of the building as trespassers. Upon exiting our children had to walk past four armed police officers with bullet proof vests. The police were friendly and after speaking with all parties they encouraged us to file complaints. There was no misconduct that warranted the children to be kicked out like that. This league needs to truly look into this situation and ensure that this does not happen to other children.

★Margo

Tried for 2 years. Gave grace the first year as they were getting organized. It was very unorganized. My son’s last game this year had no team to play because the coach of the opposing team was kicked out of the league a week prior. No communication was received to our team. We all drove from the mead area and further north to Greenacres middle school for a game that had no team to play. Very frustrating. The cost doubled and the season was shorter. My son had 4 games. Too expensive for what you get. The communication to the coaches is so bad. We will return to the Y.