Oh, the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association knows you have questions!
And that’s great news. The interest in the MWBA is continuing to climb and with that, comes plenty of questions in preparation for the 2024 season, our third year of operation. This is a document in progress, so have a look and reach out if you need further answers.
Q: I am interested in owning a franchise in the MWBA. How does that happen?
A: Please contact mwba.league@gmail.com for further information, but you will see below some of the key items that are required.
Q: Is there a chance of having increased numbers of teams due to high interest?
A: More teams? Possibly! But there are requirements and we need to approach cautiously. We want this league to be competitive, and we know not everyone who registered will make a roster. If we have too many franchises it becomes watered down. For franchises to join, they would have to meet the parameters we have in place – i.e., coaches, possible athletes/roster, facility, financial/sponsors. We know in NS with 7 university and colleges that it’s not unrealistic to have more options and Antigonish-Truro area would make sense. Prince Edward Island is looking at fielding at least one team in 2025.
Q: How many roster spots are you anticipating per team?
A: MWBA teams will carry 14 players in 2024.
Q: What facilities are you planning to use in NB and NS to host games?
A: Facilities = university/college preferred, but there could be some high schools we play out of the meet safety parameters.
Q: What will a potential season schedule look like?
A: Schedules usually begin first week of May and end in mid June with a championship weekend.
Q: How will try-outs work?
A: Tryouts might look different per franchise. We can get more details but encourage to talk to franchises directly
Q: What would the selection/tryout process look like? What might the typical time commitment be per week? (i.e., how many practices/games per week? How long are practices?)
A: Practices per week will vary per franchise, but we have emphasized flexibility to franchises (people have families, jobs, etc.). Practices will likely be 1.5-2 hours. Games could be 1-2 a week.
Q: What are we looking forward to?
A: We plan on living up to the hype!! There has been an overwhelming amount of support in the Maritimes and across Canada. Although it’s an amateur league we have every intention on running it professionally (proper uniforms, proper game timing, televised or live stream games, community engagement, player of the week awards, social media engagement, sponsorships, high quality competition, physio therapist/athletic therapy, women in leadership positions, social justice initiatives. A championship weekend that and is a celebration of women’s basketball. The league is for you!
Q: Is there an international player limit? If so, how many international players are allowed one team?
A: The purpose of the league is to carter to AUS/ACAA/USport/CCAA current and past players so we would prefer not to see an entire roster of international players. We want this to be as competitive as possible while not losing site of who the league was designed for. If there are international players that played university/college in Canada, we definitely want to have you in the mix! Teams can sign up to three imports per season. An import is considered to be a player coming to the MWBA specifically to play in the league.
Q: Are you allowing players that have a primary residence outside of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick play in the league?
A: Yes! We know some athletes playing in the AUS or ACAA don’t have permanent address here as they could be from other parts of Canada or even international.
Q: Is housing going to be provided for the athletes?
A: Right now, we are not in a place to provide this. However, our goal is to enhance what the league can offer in the future.
Q: Will practices be every day like university?
A: Likely not, but this will depend on what the franchises and teams want. They will all look different, but franchises know we are working with a mature group and there will need to be flexibility
Q: Will the success of a three-month season help raise the conversation of having a professional women’s association in Canada?
A: Yes, absolutely! A lot of great discussions have been unfolding, but we have to start small. This is new, so we are continuing taking baby steps in terms of the length of time the league runs, and we didn’t want to take up anyone’s summer.
Q: If someone is interested in sponsoring, do I contact front office or the franchises? Tax receipts?
A: If someone wants to sponsor a franchise that you might play for, direct them to that franchise owner. We do need to ensure franchises sponsors don’t impact front office sponsors.
Q: If there’s a possible 1.5 practices, will there be available gym time to use outside of the hosted practices?
A: Depends on the franchise!
Q: How will travel work?
A: Each franchise will have one weekend trip to the opposite province + championship weekend. We want to limit travel because we know you just finished a season, have families, work jobs, and we want to keep cost down.
Q: How will you decide which players will go to which teams?
A: We encourage athletes to reach out to the franchises to learn more about their plans as all of them will function independently. The front office won’t be selecting rosters. So, if you would play for all the franchises, write all of them! If you only want to play for one, write them and find out about any open gyms they may have. Don’t worry, we won’t be shipping you somewhere that you don’t want to play!
Q: Do you have tentative dates for when tryouts will be held?
A: This will depend on the franchises, but we will be working with them to finalize some timeline parameters. We know franchises might want to wait until the Usport/CCAA season is over because they will be able to see performance, stats of athletes. The challenge is, do we have tryouts in the fall and miss actually seeing Usport/CCAA players compete for the season? With that, we would anticipate late March or early April.
Q: When will rosters be finalized?
A: Roster we want to finalize ASAP after tryouts because we know everyone will want to plan their lives (family time, employment opportunities, etc.). Teams must announce their roster seven days prior to their first game of 2024.