Quick Links
If interested please let us know by filling our the Interest Form:
Our tryouts have concluded and teams have been named. If you did not receive an email about tryout outcomes please check your spam folder and/or email us at portsmouthtravelbasketball@gmail.com to inquire.
If your child was named to a team you can register for the team here: https://ptb2026.cheddarup.com/ and if you are an #AreUIn? member please fill out this pre-registration form: https://forms.gle/zSU2Mph9r9je8ZR7A
Season Information:
Teams will:
Practice on the weekend (Sunday mornings or Saturday late afternoon) from November-February. Some teams will have an additional weekday practice.
Participate in Seacoast Basketball League (SBL) games which are typically held on Sundays from December-mid February. Home games are Sunday evening at Connie Bean, away games are at local Seacoast communities on Sundays (occasionally Saturdays as well, but those are rare). The SBL is a basketball league with teams from around the Seacoast. Participation in this league runs simultaneously with Portsmouth Recreation and School Basketball. To play in the Seacoast League, players must also be participating in Rec or a school league. This league is in addition to those and is scheduled such that it does not interfere with various recreational basketball leagues around the Seacoast or with middle school basketball.
Participate in at least 2 postseason tournaments predominantly in March (all tournaments conclude by the start of baseball/softball season). Previous tournaments have included Berwick, Bow, Deerfield, Kittery, Wells, Rochester, and Seabrook. Important! There will NOT be a separate tryout for the tournament season. The Seacoast League team will continue into the tournament season. If there is a team that does not have enough interest right now, we may hold a tournament tryout for that specific team, but in general we do not plan on holding a tryout.
Learn "The Clipper Way" of basketball. An overarching goal of this program is to have kids learn the offensive and defensive philosophies used at Portsmouth High School, including terminology and (eventually) plays. We also are a space where future Clippers from Portsmouth and surrounding towns can play together. The heads of coaching are current PHS coaches. We have input from both boys and girls PHS basketball stakeholders.
In 3rd/4th grade, teams learn terminology and the general offense. Plays are limited to inbound plays as kids learn how to move with each other. Any "plays" used during the play of the game are segmented parts of the offensive flow to help break down the movement. (Note, our 3rd/4th grade teams often lose to other teams running set plays over and over for their best player, we expect this will happen as we prioritize learning an offense over learning plays)
In 5th/6th grade, teams use the general offense much more often and are taught variations of the offense, options they can implement. They learn a variety of different inbound plays and they also may learn a play that is used in game.
In 7th/8th grade, teams are expected to be able to fully run the offense and will learn a small number of plays they can incorporate into the offense.
Approach the SBL season as developmental and the tournament season as competitive.
We approach the SBL with a goal of getting kids consistently involved and having them develop "Clipper Way" skills. While we want to win, we do not approach regular season games with winning as the priority. We are not an "equal playing time" team, but do make sure all kids are consistent part of the playing rotation and have lots of opportunity to play and improve.
We approach tournaments with a goal of being competitive and trying to win. We have minimum playing standards such that all kids get into every game each half, but playing time is weighted heavier towards team needs in a particular game and in close games those playing time differences can be large.
Pricing:
Cost is $300 for combined season (November through March). This is a similar price to last year, however last year was broken into two separate payments, one for SBL season and one for tournament season.
What comes with registration?
Eight weeks of SBL games, plus additional playoff tournament
At least two tournaments, any additional tournament a team may play in will incur no additional cost. The tournaments we target typically guarantee 3 or 4 games each with more based on performance.
Personalized player warmup shirts
End of season award banquet.
There are no additional uniform costs, full uniform sets are provided by PTB and returned at end of season.
Help With Costs
We are a #AreUIn? member organization.
We offer modest sibling discounts (exact discount TBD) for families registering multiple kids.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is travel basketball?
People often hear "travel basketball" and equate it to "travel baseball" or "travel soccer" and expect a similar commitment and level of intensity. The basketball model is different. Travel Basketball refers to community travel basketball, which often operates as an all-star type team of a town's recreation program. In basketball AAU is the organization that more closely aligns with travel baseball/soccer. AAU can pull kids from the general region, we are community based and participation includes residency requirements.
Why do we have to also participate in rec basketball?
We have partnered with Portsmouth Rec in forming this 501c3 and committed to supporting recreation basketball. In many towns travel basketball operates as a recreation league post season where an all star team from rec represents the town (similar to our Little League district teams). We are expanding that definition to have more competitive basketball opportunities with the support of Portsmouth Recreation. While we operate independently, we support rec by requiring our 3rd/4th graders to also play rec so that the rec program can continue to thrive, in return Portsmouth Rec helps us with things like equipment storage and access to gym rentals at times not normally available (gym time is very hard to come by!).