12/17/2025
Registration for our 4-6th grade basketball and cheer league is now open! (PLEASE SHARE)
Every team will play 6 regular season games plus an end of season tournament. We tried to start the league towards the tail end of the elementary travel basketball season but want to finish before Easter and spring sports. We are allowing 3rd graders who played for their school team to play in our 4th grade division. Besides the 3rd graders, we are not going to allow any players to play up this season.
League details
The registration link is: https://registration.upward.org/UPW90055
Games in this league will be played full court with the presence of a PIAA referee (or two volunteer referees). Tournament games will have two referees per game.
Cost and Payment Details
Cost will be $95 (the extra $10 is for referees) plus an optional $14 for shorts or cheer turtlenecks. There is also a sibling discount of $15 per child. If the sibling participated in the k-3rd grade basketball and cheerleading league, please enter the sibling discount code SIBLING26 when registering. Scholarships are available for those in need (email [email protected] or call/text 724.679.1755 for more details). We are asking all families to pay online when they register which is different from what we had in the past. If there is an issue where you can't participate then we will issue a full refund.
Mandatory Evaluations for Basketball
Instead of an evaluation day like we’ve done in our K-3rd grade league, we will be having MANDATORY evaluation nights which will be an open gym/scrimmaging concept on the following nights:
6th Grade - Tuesday, February 3rd (6-7:30)
5th Grade – Wednesday, February 4th (6-7:30)
4th Grade – Thursday, February 5th (6-7:30)
You must attend the evaluation night in order to play (your travel coach will understand). After the evaluation for each group, the coaches will be drafting teams. This is a concept that has proved successful in past seasons and in other Upward leagues to make the teams more competitive and balanced for older age groups. To accomplish this, we will not be allowing carpool links (except for siblings) or practice night exclusions. (If your child has a crazy schedule, please sign up to be a coach so you can pick your practice day and time) There will also be an initial coach meeting Thursday, January 29th at 7 PM (coaches only).
Cheer
We are so happy to bring back cheer again this season!! Cheerleaders must be 4-6th grade. Practice day and time is to be determined. We will also have a welcome day to make sure your contact information is up to date and correct any uniform sizing issues plus you will get to meet our amazing coaches!!
Other Important Dates and Information
First week of practice will be the week of February 9th.
Teams will have an optional practice Saturday, February 14th.
First game will be Saturday, February 21st. We will start the games late morning and run into the evening depending on the number of teams to limit competing with other sports.
There will be no games the March 14th due to a church function and the week of Easter so enjoy those weekends off!
Awards ceremony (last regular season game) April 11th.
Tournament will be April 17-19. Depending on the number of teams, games be Friday night, all day Saturday and possibly Sunday afternoon.
This will give each team 6 games plus a tournament; therefore, guaranteeing at least 7 games for the season.
Unfortunately, there will be no snow make up games.
Volunteers
WE NEED COACHES!! Please let me know asap if you are willing to coach or be an assistant coach. We also know many of you have someone at your church (or maybe yourself!) who would be great at giving halftime devotions. Please feel free to pass along their name and contact information. You can also register at https://registration.upward.org/UPW90055/volunteer
Stocking Stuffers
Many of our Upward Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, etc. use Upward registration as a gift for their families. Just have them fill out the registration for you or be creative in how they want to present it.
Online registration closes January 22nd and we won't be able to take any more players after evaluations so please register as soon as possible and feel free to share this email with anyone who may be interested in our league.
As always, do not hesitate to contact us with additional questions.
God Bless and GO UPWARD!!
