Resources for Coaches
General tips, resources and documents for CYO coaches.
Documents & Forms
| DOCUMENT | DESCRIPTION |
| Incident Reports | If an incident occurs at a practice or a game, please complete our online form. Incidents can range from player injury to adult conduct. Let us know what happened so we can let the leaders of those involved know as well. Online Form |
| Pre-Participation Form | The pre-participation form is to be completed and submitted to the athletic director before the athlete is eligible to participate in a practice or game. The form contains the physical, release form and emergency medical authorization information. The complete pre-participation form is valid for thirteen months from the date of the physician’s signature. Exam Form |
| Grade School Section Assignments | Looking for what section and zone your parish or school is in? Please note athletes can only participate in their Section and Zone. You must contact the athletic director of the parish or school to see if you are eligible. Section: Large group of programs that can work together to form teams if no teams can be formed in their zone. Zone: Small group of programs that can work together to form teams. - Provisional: Athletes from these parishes can play with any program within the zone.
- No Zone: Cannot have athletes from any other program participate on their teams without express written permission from CYO administration.
- School: Cannot have athletes from any other program participate on their teams.
Download the Grade School Section Assignments below. 2022-2023 Grade School Section Assignments |
| High School Section Assignments | Looking for what section and zone your parish or school is in? Please note athletes can only participate in their Section and Zone. You must contact the athletic director of the parish or school to see if you are eligible. Eligibility for High School Athletes/TeamsIf the high school athlete is registered at a CYO member parish: - They are eligible at the parish in which they/their parents are registered parishioners.
- If their parish does not have a team, they must play in their zone first then within their section.
- See zones below. Follow the zone guidelines for grade school sections.
- They may not jump into another section.
If the high school athlete is enrolled at a parochial high school who is a CYO member with a team and the parish they are registered at has a team: - They can play on their high school team where they are enrolled OR
- The parish in which they/their parents are a registered parishioner AND their parish has a team.
If an athlete is enrolled at a parochial high school but is not registered at a parish, the athlete: - Is eligible to participate at the parochial high school, if they have a team, OR
- Must play within the section closest to their primary home address.
- Must complete a CYO special request form - see CYO website high school basketball
If the athlete is a parishioner of a no zone parish and that parish does not have a team: - May not move to another section.
Download the High School Section Assignments below. 2022-2023 High School Section Assignments |
General Tips
- Calendar: Knowing when the season begins can help you manage the tasks that need to be completed before the start of the season. Knowing when practice begins, games begin, rosters are locked and tournaments are held can give you a road map to a successful season. Visit your specific sport's page to download individual season planners.
- Player Eligibility: The eligibility of the players on your team is important to us. If a child is enrolled in a Catholic school or is a member of a Catholic parish, he/she is eligible to participate on a CYO team. If the child is a non-Catholic enrolled in PSR or enrolled in RCIA he/she may be eligible to play. Contact the CYO office for details.
It is expected that the child will play at the parish/school to which they attend. Please read our Player Eligibility page for more information.
Each child must have a current Pre-Participation form on file with the team before he/she participates in practices or games. One component of the form is a physical exam, which is valid for 13 months from the date of the exam.
Before the start of the season, review your eligibility roster with your athletic director to make sure all of your team members are on the official roster before they play in a game.
- Meetings: We recommend every CYO coach holds member-wide coach and parent meetings before each season. This is a great way to get a consistent message to all participating families and coaches. You can talk about your expectations as a coach, the mission of CYO and your program, practice and season dates, training and fundraising.
A coaches meeting should be held three weeks prior to the start of practice and a parent meeting one week before the start of practice. Remember to invite your pastor to the meeting to help set the tone for the season.
Each season, CYO Athletics also holds a General Coaches Meeting. These organizational meetings are very informative and help better prepare coaches for the upcoming season. Check the calendar for details.
- Deadlines: Deadlines are important for a program with more than 22,000 participants. As a coach, you will be made aware of registration and roster deadlines by your athletic director. Please respect those deadlines. If you miss a deadline, it could impact a team's ability to be sponsored or for a child to be added to a team roster.
- Championships: At the end of each season teams in the 6th, 7th and 8th grade, as well as the high school divisions, will have play-off tournaments and competitions. Make sure you view the Championship Information pages for more information on these tournaments.
Coaches Meeting Course
If you did not attend one of the mandatory winter season coaches meetings from October 28 through October 30, you must complete the Catholic Coaching Essentials course online. Once you complete the course, you must submit your completion certificate to the CYO office in order to receive your coaching credentials. Find more details regarding the course, cost and certificate submission here:
Catholic Coaching Essentials Course
Guest Player Rules
The coach needs the approval of their Athletic Director prior to the game to invite a Guest Player. If a team has fewer than 7 athletes at a game, a guest player may be moved from the member’s other CYO basketball teams to fill the positions at the start of a game under the following restrictions:
- The athlete meets the age/grade restrictions of the team he/she will assist.
- The guest player is reported by means of the button on the Coaches Information page of www.ccdocle.org/cyo before the game in which he/she will be used. It is recommended that this by done by the Member Athletic Director and according to Bylaw 5-3-2-C-6 are reported on the day of the game.
- The same individual may be invited as a guest player for no more than two (2) games during the season with any team. Once an individual is a guest player twice, they may not be invited by any other team for the remainder of the season.
- The athlete complies with Game and Time limits as outlined in Section 1-H.
- The guest player(s) must meet the minimum participation requirements outlined in the division specific sections.
- Guest player movements are to be reported on the basketball scoresheet before the competition begins. The guest player’s name should be listed after all of the regular team athletes and put “GP” next to their name.
- Guest player playing restrictions - If the guest player is the sixth and/or seventh player on the roster, they cannot start the first segment of the first quarter of the game. Coaches are encouraged to not play guest players more segments than players on the original roster.
- Uniform Requirements
- Guest players must wear the uniform of the team that they are playing on, not their rostered team uniform.
- There are to be NO duplicated uniform numbers (teams should have at least one extra jersey to be borrowed by the guest player for that game).
- Guest players cannot be used for sanctioned events or CYO championship competitions.
The Athletic Director must inform their coaches of what their process is to report a GP at their school/parish level.
Report a Guest Player
Coaches must have the Team ID to complete this form. Contact your parish athletic director for a copy of your team roster form or to have them give you the team ID number.
Online Resources
We recommend the following online resources to CYO coaches looking for more training:
CYO Athletics 
Part of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland
