Upward Basketball

"I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

- Philippians 3:14

Promoting the Discovery of Jesus Through Sports

Upward Basketball is our sports ministry for children in Kindergarten through 2nd grades

Visit www.upward.org for more information about the ministry of Upward Sports in general.

Signing Up

The Upward Basketball season at Sutton lasts from the beginning of January through the end of February.
You may begin signing up as early as November 1st.
Registration is open until the first game. There is always a deadline for registration listed on the brochure, this means we draft teams after that day. You can still sign up after that registration deadline until the first game is played, but you may have to be prepared to not receive your jersey on time and to have fewer options for your available practice times.
We have two leagues, coed Kindergarten and coed 1st-2nd grades. We do allow Pre-K children to play as long as the parents understand and agree to their children playing against other Kindergartners who are 5 and 6 years old. The child will also have to be able to get the ball into a 7.5 foot tall goal.

Practices and Games

Your child will have one, one hour practice during the week. Teams practice either on Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday.
Your child will have one, one hour game every Saturday for eight weeks.
Games are on a running clock, for Kindergarten, we play 4, 6 minute periods, with a 6 minute halftime. 1st-2nd, we play 4, 8 minute periods, with a 6 minute halftime.
Every child plays every game. Sometimes if a team has an odd number of players then some children might get more playing time than others. Excluding that situation, each child gets equal playing time.
Our coaches share devotions and memory verses with the children each practice.
We give a short devotion at halftime of each game.

Rules Specific To Our League

We don't keep score during the games. Our primary focus is on teaching the children about Jesus Christ. Our secondary focus is on teaching the children the fundamentals of basketball without the pressures of winning and losing.
With children this young, we are more relaxed on the rules during game day than a competitive league is. That means we don't enforce some rules like: time restrictions such as shot clock or three in the key, or backcourt violations. At the beginning of the season we are relaxed on double dribbles and traveling but we get more strict as the season goes forward. We don't call every small foul, but we do call bigger fouls. If a foul is called it is a change of possession.
We have a few extra rules like: the defense must stay behind the half-court line, no zone defense, and no double teaming. Each child wears a colored arm band and before each period they are lined up with the player on the other team wearing a matching arm band. They must play man-to-man defense on that player.
We play on a short court, 40ft long and 17ft wide. Our Kindergarten league plays with a 27.5 inch ball and shoots on a 7.5 foot goal. Our 1st-2nd grade league plays with a 27.5 inch ball and shoots on an 8.5 foot goal.

For more information send an email to Pastorsprad@gmail.com

The 2024 Upward Sign-Ups are live! We have a K5 league as well as a 1st-2nd grade league! Registration will END on November 30th!

Sutton Free Will Baptist Church

5421 Highway 62 West

Pocahontas, AR 72455

(870) 892-3807

Sutton Free Will Baptist Church