EPWBA Travel FAQ

Starting with the 2024-2025 Season this Fall/Winter, EPWBA will be adding a new travel component to the league. Below are answers to questions about how this will all work. More details will be announced closer to the Fall.

• What makes a travel team different than joining an AAU program?
  • Like AAU, the idea of a travel team is to have advanced players compete against similar competition to allow them to develop their basketball skills further. Unlike most AAU programs, we primarily will be in the Northern Virginia for practices, games and tournaments. During the winter season, the travel teams will have the opportunity to participate in tournaments as well as the FCYBL Winter season. Our travel teams are nationally registered with the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), which allows us to complete in tournaments against various travel and AAU teams. We will also keep the team together during the spring and summer time for additional training and the opportunity to compete in local tournaments.
  • Additionally, we will put heavy emphasis on development. We believe strongly in the quality of developing players as opposed to the quantity of winning as many tournaments as possible. We will have a heavy focus on training/practices that will result in a better player in the future.
• What makes EPWBA's Travel Component Different than any other local AAU team?
  • We have access to resources that few organizations in our area have. We are a program under Prince William County Parks & Recreation and have been in partnership with this county entity for decades. Additionally, we have a pipeline of players who are already participating in our league. Our players will develop and grow in-house. The hope is as our players grow through our pipeline, we will continue to work with them as part of our travel program.
• What is the cost?
  • October - March, the fee will be $195, which will be an all-inclusive amount to cover participation with FCYBL, gym time, uniforms, etc. Please visit the Travel Component Information page for more details.
• When is registration?
  • We will open up registration on September 1st for specific age groups that would be involved with this process. Your child must first register as part of our recreational program. When registering, you will indicate if you are open to your child participating with the travel team (this is optional of course). If you indicate that you interested in them participating, then we will have travel team staff members who will be at that age group's Skills Evaluations and from there, we will have a committee who will select the players who will join the teams.
• What age group will the teams be?
  • We are focusing on our Middle School 6th- 8th grade age groups for both boys and girls. Depending on the number of participants we have, we would like to build at least 1 to 2 teams for boys and girls at that age group. The players who are selected will only compete with the travel team and no longer play with the recreational program. Advanced players in the 4th/5th grade age groups will be consider to play up to a higher age level in the recreational program with the possibility of joining our travel teams in future seasons. In the future, we may consider expanding the travel component to other age groups.
• How does this impact the recreational program?
  • If anything we believe this will enhance our recreational program. At our core, we are our recreational organization and that has not changed. We want to give players who are advanced the opportunity to play with players who are equally as skilled and experienced. For our recreational groups, this will allow for players that are closer in skillset and experience than previous years to play together, which will help balance out the path for development for each of our players. We will still provide the same leagues and trainings for our recreational program. The hope is we will have players who start with our organization at the Novice and Instructional League levels, develop, continue to stay part of our league and eventually be prepared for travel team competition when they become of age. Not everyone will go this path, but for those who wants to get to the travel level, we believe the pipeline is in place to produce high-quality basketball players.
• How will coaches be selected?
  •  The EPWBA Board will select coaches. Ideally, our coaches will be ones who we are familiar with who have a history with our organization and a proven track record of developing players. The character of our organization and those that represent it is paramount. We may ask coaches for a resume as well conduct interviews.
• What if my child does not make the travel team after the skills evaluations?
  • Your child will still be able to participate in our recreational program. Players who continue with our league, will also get another opportunity to try out with the travel team for the Spring/Summer time for any slots that become available
• Will the FCYBL season interfere with my child's Middle School season?
  • There is a possibility that their may be conflicts with Middle School sports season. We ask for parents to communicate those conflicts in advance with the coaches (strongly encourage to do so via email).
• Why now?
  • We understand the popularity of travel sports and how important it is for parents to have this option, however we believe this process should be done responsibly. We do not believe in taking short cuts with development of our basketball players. We believe we have access to some of the most talented players in our region only for these players to choose to go to other organizations for greater competition. With this travel option, we want to keep our players in house, give them access to quality coaching and help them to reach their full potential as basketball players.