HVTBL was founded as a community-based league, and we are fully committed to a “town travel” identity and culture. To that end, the following rules are essential:
- Participating programs and their teams must represent a defined jurisdiction–either a municipality (village, town, city) or school district.
- Once the program’s jurisdiction is defined, all players must reside within that area. Players may not cross municipal or school district boundaries. Post office (zip code) designations are not relevant; eligibility determinations are based upon actual municipal or school district borders, as the case may be.
- HVTBL programs must hold open tryouts such that all residents of the jurisdiction have a bona fide opportunity to participate.
- Teams must be part of an established or in-development program that serves more than a single team.
- HVTBL recognizes only one community-based program within each jurisdiction.
FAQs
- If an area is not served by a travel program, can its players try out for HVTBL teams in neighboring jurisdictions? No.
- If an HVTBL program does not have a team for a specific grade, can players in that cohort try out for HVTBL teams in neighboring jurisdictions? No.
- If a player lives within the boundaries of a school district-designated program but attends private school, would the player be eligible for the HVTBL program operating within that school district? Yes, as a resident and eligible student of that school district, the player would be eligible for HVTBL even if he/she attends private school.
- What about players who live outside of an HVTBL school district jurisdiction but attend school there either through “tuitioning in” or as a child of a school district employee? Such players are eligible to play for their school district HVTBL team.
- If a player lives outside of an HVTBL program jurisdiction but attends private school in that jurisdiction, is the player eligible? No. For example, a Bronx resident who attends Iona Prep would not be eligible for a New Rochelle HVTBL team.
- Can program jurisdictions overlap? HVTBL’s rules are designed to avoid “forum shopping.” However, there may be isolated instances in which a town program’s boundaries cross into an adjoining school district’s boundaries, or a village HVTBL program operates within a town that also has a program. HVTBL will address these (likely rare) situations on a case-by-case basis.
- Can CYO or AAU teams enter HVTBL? Typically no. Town teams that play as CYO or AAU teams in the off-season but operate as bona fide HVTBL programs in the winter season are allowed. However, as noted above, each jurisdiction must allow for all members of the community to try out.
- Can players play on more than one team? For instance, could a few 4th graders also “moonlight” on a 5th grade team if the 5th grade team doesn’t meet the league’s minimum roster size of 9 players? No. Players may only be rostered on one team.
- What if a team is short players for an individual game? If a team has 7 or more available players from its roster, it is required to play the game with those 7. If a team has fewer than 7 players, subject to opponent and HVTBL approval, it may “borrow” players from its “B” team (if existent) or a younger team.
- What if a team doesn’t have enough players to form a team in the first place? Unfortunately, even some of HVTBL’s larger programs don’t always have enough players to form teams for every grade and gender. Program managers may consider combining grades (e.g. 5th and 6th, which would play in a 6th grade division).
- Can players play up a grade? Yes, provided the player only plays for one HVTBL team per season. For example, a 4th grader may be a permanent member of a program’s 5th grade team, but he/she may not be rostered simultaneously on the program’s 4th and 5th grade teams.
- Can players play down a grade? No.
The Board will from time to time consider limited exceptions to the above requirements.