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Town Youth Sports
Town Youth Sports
Below more information on registration for town youth sports (all volunteer-driven, and parents are typically the coaches). For more info on other sports or other child activities, see here.
Most town sports have both town and travel teams.
Town teams play local in our own or neighboring town,
travel teams start only as of a specific age, often have tryouts to select players, and travel up to an hour away for games against other towns.
Most practice 1 or 2 nights a week and have a game on Saturday or Sunday. Most only have a fall, winter or spring season, some have both fall and spring.
ABBasketball :
Town team (CommEd): AB Winter Basketball: grades 3-12.
Registration starts somewhere in September
Financial help : no financial help is available this year
Transportation help : reach out to the team to organize carpool. At registration you can mention which weekdays work best for you for practice.
Equipment : Kids need basketball shoes and the right size basketball. No basketball swap is available.
Travel team: AB Travel Basketball : grades 4-8, boys and girls.
Register in September/early October for tryouts in October. Follow the steps from the menu at abbasketball.com
Financial help : payment plans available. Contact the director to check if financial help is available.
Transportation help : reach out to the team to organize carpool.
Equipment : Kids need basketball shoes, the right size basketball and a mouthguard.
Referee: Children aged 14+ can be a referee for town basketball games: in the CommEd catalog, click on register and search for "referee".
Coach: Students in grades 10-12 can help coach. email winterbasketball@abschools.org for more info.
ABGirlsLax AB Girls Youth Lacrosse : girls grades K-8.
Register here in Oct/Nov (/Dec/Jan) for spring season
Financial help : contact abgirlslacrosse@gmail.com to check if financial help is available
Transportation help : reach out to the team to organize carpool.
Equipment : more info here
ABLAX : AB Boys Youth Lacrosse: Boys grades 1-8.
Register here for spring season, fall clinics or summer camp
Financial help : contact abyouthlax@gmail.com to check if financial help is available
Transportation help : reach out to the team to organize carpool.
Equipment : more info coming (probably similar to this)
ABSoftball : AB Girls Youth Softball: girls pre-K-grade 10.
Register here . Register in August/early September for the fall season
Financial help : contact the president of the board or the coach for financial help
Transportation help : reach out to the team to organize carpool.
Equipment : more info coming
ABYB AB Youth Baseball : Kindergarten (Tee Ball), 1st grade – age 16. Info on the different age groups/divisions here.
Register here (info is here). Register in August for the fall season, and register in October for the travel spring season.
Financial help : available, see more info here.
Transportation help : reach out to the team to organize carpool. When you register, there is a method to indicate conflict days/times.
Equipment : Tball : only a glove is needed. Baseball : Bat , Helmet, Glove, Cleats , Baseball pants, Socks . A baseball swap event where you can donate things and get things for free is organized every spring.
Miracle League: baseball for children with disabilities ages 5-22. Spring and fall season.
Register here by Aug 10 for the fall season.
Transportation help : reach out to the team to organize carpool.
Equipment : more info coming
ABYHA AB Youth Hockey : ages 2-18.
Learn to skate: through Nashoba Skating School. For new and beginning skaters, age 3.5 and up
Registration opens approx. 4 weeks before a session starts. Sessions : approx. Sep/Oct, Nov/Dec, Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June . Sign up here (scroll down).
Financial Help : none available yet
Transportation help : Because of SafeSport, no adult can transport non-family members in their vehicle. The Nashoba Valley Rink is on the MART Bus fixed route (This would only work for the Wednesday learn to skate classes.)
Equipment : skates are needed. They can be rented at the pro-shop at the rink for the session. You can also purchase reduced price skates during the Acton Lions Club Ski and Skate Sale held every November.
Hockey teams: AB Youth Hockey Boys and Girls
Register here for travel teams in March for the season starting in September. Register here late summer / early fall for the fall and winter Learn to Play program (ages 5-9)
Financial help : contact the president of the board or the registrar to check if financial help is available
Transportation help : reach out to the team to organize carpool.
Equipment : players need skates, a helmet, shin pads, elbow pads, shoulder pads, hockey pants, hockey gloves and a stick. More info here.
ABYS : AB Youth Soccer: age 4 (pre-K) - 18.
Registration deadlines (June or August) depend on the age and whether the child plays town soccer (play only within Acton/Boxborough vs other Acton / Boxborough teams) or travel soccer (play against teams from other towns, typically 15 min to 1 hr + drive for games - need to be selected through a tryout process). See the page with registration timelines here. Register here.
Financial help : fill in this google form. Wait to receive a code before registering.
Transportation help : reach out to the team to organize carpool
Equipment : Kids need soccer cleats, shinguards and the right size soccer ball. ABYS organizes a soccer swap in the beginning of the school year where you can donate your old material (cleats, shinguards, balls etc) or get material for free. This year's the soccer swap is September 8 at Blanchard (use the cafeteria entrance), 7:00-7:30pm. There is no charge for this event and you do not need to bring something to swap.
Referee : Children age 12 and above can be a referee for town soccer games. Check with the town soccer coaches for info.
WABKnights : Pop Warner Football/Cheer: age 5-15.
School Sports
School Sports
Elementary schools don't organize school sports outside school hours.
You can find the Jr High athletics information here, and the one for here. Every sport only runs for 1 trimester (fall, winter or spring). Some sports have tryouts, some don't. Some sports have a team for 7th grade, 8th grade, Freshmen (9th grade), JV (grades 9-12) and Varsity (grades 9-12, top team), while other sports only have some of these teams.
You need to register 1-3 months before the start of the season. More information on how to sign-up for the Jr High here, and for the Highschool here.
You can find some varsity games online on Acton TV.
Note that rowing, squash, fencing and ultimate frisbee are club sports (so different fees and no transportation by the school for practice/competitions) however they compete against teams from other schools.
Fitness : the AB Fitness Center Gym at the AB High School is open to AB Adults & students age 14+. More info here. There are also many private fitnesses in our community.
Club Sports and Private Sports Organizations
Club Sports and Private Sports Organizations
Most sports also have youth sport clubs, that are open to children from any town, coaches are often but not always professional coaches, the cost is typically higher (sometimes scholarships are available - check with the club director), there are typically tryouts to select players and/or assign players to the different levels per age category. Coaches of the AB travel or school teams can typically provide information on which clubs are available in the area for their sport.
Acton and Boxborough have also private businesses that offer sports for kids through their own website, or through AB Community Ed, Acton Recreation Department, Boxborough Recreation Department or through Teamworks. You can also find them by searching the internet, in the Acton Business Directory or in the Business Directory Middlesex West Chamber of Commerce.
See more info on other recreation options under Trails, Nature & Sports
Help Paying for Sports
Help Paying for Sports
For town sports, see the information above or contact the registrar, president, director or coach of the town sport organization to check if they can waive the fee or provide scholarships. You can find their email typically on the website under "Contact Us".
Many clubs have financial aid available - check on their website or contact the club directly.
Fees for AB school sports are waived for eligible families - see the AB school financial help section.
The non-profit Every Kids Sports provides grants to help cover youth sports registration fees. Visit everykidsports.org - see flier below
You can buy (and donate) used sports equipment at Play It Again Sports in Leominster
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