Welcome to the Florida Basketball Newsletter.  The Florida Basketball Newsletter is released irregularly and email subscriptions are free and currently with over 12,000 active email contacts.  Any comments, suggestions, articles, columns and contributions are more than welcome and can be forwarded to Rob Hicks, hicksrob@comcast.net.

YBOA SPRING BASKETBALL LEAGUE

YBOA SPRING BASKETBALL LEAGUE - February 12th through April 3rd, 2008, Orlando, Florida.  Open to club, league, travel and school teams.  8 games guaranteed, official League Shirt for Every Player and Coach, Playoff Tournament, 1^st-4^th Place Awards, Certified Officials, Prepare & Improve Travel Team, End of Season All-Star Event and Much More!  Games are played on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  REGISTER BEFORE FEBRUARY 5, 2008 AND RECEIVE A $20.00 DISCOUNT PER PLAYER.  $55.00 (YBOA Members) and $75.00 (Non-YBOA Members).  For more info, contact Jack Love (321) 228-7820.

European Basketball Tour 2008 (Russia, Finland, Latvia and Sweden)

The tour planning is almost complete and can be seen on my web site; www.eteamz.com/teamfloridausa.  While all planning is ongoing and subject to change, I am confidant in our hosts and the games and sightseeing they have suggested  and are working on, will make for a very exciting basketball tour.  The challenging aspect of a trip of this nature, is getting the best pricing....and anticipating the strength of the dollar next year.  In order to have seats on an airline, we need to have commitments now and commitments mean deposits.  The following is my best effort to provide an affordable and quality basketball tour.

The trip cost I will outline is what I perceive to be the total cost to the tour participant (excluding meals)  It will include:  Airfares from Miami to St Petersburg, Russia with a return from Stockholm Sweden and from Tampere, Finland to Riga Latvia.  All ground transportation in Europe, bus, train, and overnight cruise ship (with a cabin) on the Baltic Sea.  Also covered:  uniforms, warm-ups, all travel bags, visa (required to get into Russia...must have passport prior to getting visa from Russian Embassy), hotels or youth hostel sleeping accommodations, tournament entries, medical insurance, and travel insurance.  Meals will not be included except in Finland at the Delfin Cup tournament where all meals will be offered free at the tournament headquarters, Sampolo School.  Some teams may be offered accommodations in school classrooms at Sampolo which is quite normal in big European tournaments.  Sleeping bags would be provided.  Teams from all over Europe will be in adjoining classrooms.  Early registration at this tournament may include home stays with club member families.  Contact Ken Patrick for more info.