The goal of the Loudoun Freedom is to provide girls the opportunity to develop skills and their understanding of the game of basketball in a competitive environment. Our mission is to cultivate an understanding of effort, teamwork, selflessness, and community in all that we do. First and foremost, all coaches affiliated with the Loudoun Freedom are expected to be positive examples and be a tremendous role model for those student-athletes involved with the program. It is not just about winning. This is about skill development. It is about encouragement or consolation, about positive reinforcement, about building pride and self-esteem, and about having fun. It is not about the coach. It is about the players and the responsibility that coaches have to the young players entrusted to their care.

Loudoun Freedom Organization:

1. Coaches are expected to abide by all policies and by-laws established by the Loudoun Freedom organization, as well as abide by the rules of the Amateur Athletic Association.
2. Head coaches must be twenty-one (21) years of age. Assistant coaches must be at least sixteen (16) years of age or older if they will need to be in a decision-making capacity.
3. Coaches are expected to participate in a variety of Freedom-sponsored activities. These activities may range from assisting with the distribution of uniforms to fund-raising activities. Coaches will be expected to attend any and all organizational meetings to the best of their ability and to participate in annual parents’ orientation meetings.
4. Coaches must submit fees due for organization costs in a timely manner to the Loudoun Freedom organization once a team is formed. Funds should be collected from parents quickly after the team is formed, i.e. fees include gym space usage, uniform costs, tournament registration costs, designated administrative fees, etc.
5. Coaches must secure ALL REQUIRED PAPERWORK from team members in a complete and timely manner: materials include birth certificates, registration forms for those who join post-tryouts, AAU forms, all fees, etc., and provide a copy to the organization.
6. Coaches must submit financial reports to the Director of the Loudoun Freedom that summarize the team’s financial activities for each season.

Tryouts:

1. Teams are required to hold competitive team or individual tryouts at the beginning of each season of operation. Coaches can conduct individual workouts or follow-on tryouts to fill out roster spots after team tryouts have been conducted.
2. All Loudoun Freedom tryouts are open and competitive. All participating candidates must have an equal opportunity to make a team. The Loudoun Freedom will not allow pre-set teams to be formed. Tryout times for seasons will be assigned.
3. Candidates should tryout for teams in their respective age groups, i.e. U12 players should tryout for the U12 team. Candidates are allowed to play "up" an age group, meaning that U12 players can tryout for a U13 team. The organization will make decisions as to whether players should be placed in a particular group.
4. Candidates cannot play down an age group, especially if teams are going to play in AAU-sanctioned and other tournaments that require age-based entries.
5. If there are multiple teams within the same age group, teams will be designated as "A" team and "B" teams. The coach of the “A” team in an age group will have first rights to all players at the tryout. Once the "A" team coach forms her/his team, the "B" team coach will select from the available players in the pool. The organization encourages flexibility in the formation of teams in this manner; the "B" team should be a viable, competitive team and the Director of the Loudoun Freedom will work to resolve discrepancies in the selection process. While we will work to accommodate parental desires for placement on teams, candidates cannot demand to be placed on a certain team. If a candidate indicates that they will not play for a particular coach so they can be pre-selected by a secondary coach, that candidate may be rendered ineligible to play for any Loudoun Freedom team.
6. All coaches should make an effort to learn about potential tryout candidates for their age/gender group and share organizational information with prospective candidates.

Team Operation:

1. No coach shall engage in physical, sexual, mental, or emotional abuse toward any member of the Loudoun Freedom.
2. All coaches are responsible for the activities of their team. While the Loudoun Freedom organization provides an umbrella and philosophical direction that its coaches must adhere to, coaches operate with relative autonomy.
3. The organization strongly encourages coaches to recruit parental assistance with some of the duties but ultimate responsibility lies with the head coach. Areas of parental assistance include, but are not limited to, scorebook/clock keeping, fund-raising activities, organizing overnight accommodations, organizing refreshments, etc.
4. Coaches must conduct a detailed orientation meeting with parents and players each year and provide information regarding team costs, team operation, coaching approach, tournament schedules and league information, etc. The meeting must be held shortly after team formation. Funds and signed forms should also be collected.
5. Coaches should prepare a team schedule and calendar, in consultation with parents, in a timely manner. All teams should be operational shortly after tryouts.
6. Coaches are required to be responsible for preparing and verifying all necessary and required team information for submission to AAU and YBOA in advance of any deadlines.
7. Either provide or identify a parent to be responsible for submitting a weekly written paragraph or two regarding the team’s activities to be posted on the organization’s web site and/or to be printed in local media.
8. All coaches, players, parents, and fans associated with the Loudoun Freedom are expected to respect standards of sportsmanship and to represent their team and organization with pride and respect AT ALL TIMES.
9. The Loudoun Freedom organization does not have a minimum playing time requirement. While playing time is at the discretion of the coach, the organization encourages coaches to dole out playing time fairly. No player should find themselves on the bench for entire games.
10. The Loudoun Freedom encourages all of its members to participate in multiple sports. No prospective participants will be turned away solely because they participate in other sports. All participants-members should understand that they are making a commitment to the organization and their teammates for the entire playing season. Players are expected to attend practices and games. Parents should let the coaches know at registration, tryouts, or first parent meetings if there are conflicts that could cause their child to miss practices or games. Parents are expected to make arrangements with the coaches to prevent consistent absences due to conflicts. In the event that consist conflicts arise than can not be resolved and that result in frequent absences from team events, the Loudoun Freedom reserves the right to remove a player from the organization without refund of funds rendered based upon the prior commitment to play.

Team Funding:

1. All teams are self-funded. All team costs (i.e., gym usage, uniform costs, warm-ups, tournament fees, etc.) are borne by the team members.
2. The Loudoun Freedom organization will seek out sponsors and conduct fund-raising activities to off-set membership costs. Funds raised from such sources will be used to support all Loudoun Freedom teams.
3. All teams are free to conduct their own fund-raising activities and the monies garnered from said fund-raising activities will be targeted toward that team. Sponsors sought by individual teams shall – within reason - be oriented toward the Loudoun Freedom organization as a whole.
4. All checks MUST be made out to the "Loudoun Freedom." Funds collected by and used for all teams must reside in the Loudoun Freedom checking account with Middleburg Bank. Coaches will submit requests for checks to pay for activities. Coaches can also submit requests for re-imbursement accompanied by valid receipts.

Practices:

1. The organization will do its best to ensure that all teams have two weekly 1.5-hour practice slots. The organization is dependent on Loudoun County Dept. of Parks and Recreation and other organizations for gym space.
2. All coaches should conduct weekly practices and team activities that provide a positive learning environment, improve individual skills and understanding of how to play the game as a team, and promote the principles of: attendance, hard work, focus, composure, respect, and communication.
3. All practices will be open to parents of team members, barring any parent-caused disruptions that would call for their removal.

"Expect to Succeed. Work to Make it Happen"