Important Changes for the 2019-2020 Season

East Lyme Youth Basketball has been informed by the East Lyme Board of Education that the Elementary School gym renovations will be complete once the season begins.  We have also completed our pilot partnership with Salem and are pleased to say it was a success and we are now a single organization.

Endowed with more gym flexibility than we have ever had, we are excited to announce the following enhancements to our program:

Induction of an Intermediate 3v3 Division for 3rd and 4th grade players.

• Beginning this year, boys and girls in 3rd/4th grade will be playing in our new 3v3 intermediate league.  Just like in our older divisions, the players will practice twice a week in East Lyme/Salem and have officiated games on Saturdays in Salem.  Players will be playing on smaller teams using age appropriate court dimensions, lowered hoops, and a 27.5 inch basketball.

Rec Leagues realignment:

• Boys 5th/6th Grade League
• Girls 5th/6th Grade League
• Boys 7th/8th Grade League
• Girls 7th/8th Grade League
• Boys Fresh/Soph League
• Boys Junior/Senior League
• Girls High School League

Preseason group practice sessions prior to evaluations (Rec Grades 3-8):

Starting in the second or third week of October, and prior to teams being formed, players will participate in group practice sessions for the first couple weeks of the season.  Following the two week group practice sessions, players will then be evaluated and assigned to a team.  From that point forward practices will be with their team.  The reasoning behind this new process is to allow the kids to focus on skill development while transitioning out of the fall sport's season were, historically, team practice attendance is low.  Additionally, the coaches will be able to evaluate the players over a longer period allowing proper team placement. This will help us reach our goal of competitive team balance.

Additional Session for Instructional:

• K-2 instructional programs will now be twice a week in East Lyme/Salem.

Girls High School:

In our continued efforts to improve all our programs, ELYB has made the following improvements to our Girls High School Division.

Who is it for:

The Girls High School division has been modified to make it attractive to players just looking to play basketball without the commitment level of the ELHS program and to those players that want to use the program to prepare for ELHS basketball tryouts (first week of December).

What to Expect:

Prior to ELHS tryouts:

The players will practice twice a week starting mid-october.  On the weekends, the girls will have either a practice, an officated scrimmage against each other or a non-league game against another town.    

After ELHS tryouts:

Players making the ELHS teams are not expected to continue with ELYB.  Conversely, players not participating in the ELHS program are allowed to join after finding out the results.  

Starting this year, ELYB has joined the Eastern Connecticut Basketball League's Girls High School Division.  In December, we will be playing league games against teams like Marlborough, Columbia, Hebron, Colchester, Willington, Andover and others.  Our league home games will be played at the Salem School.  The season will conclude with the conference tournament in February.

ELYB Gyms:

• East Lyme High School North Gym - Preseason Only
• East Lyme High School South Gym - Preseason Only
• East Lyme Middle School
• Salem School Big Gym (Adjustable Hoops)
• Salem School Small Gym (Adjustable Hoops)
• Flanders Elementary School (Adjustable Hoops)
• Niantic Center School (Adjustable Hoops)
• Lillie B Haynes School Big Gym
• Lillie B Haynes Small Gym (Adjustable Hoops)

Thank you very much for your continued participation in East Lyme Youth Basketball.