Great Northwest Basketball League (GNBL)

All teams must submit rosters and completed waiver/concussion forms two weeks before their first play date or absolutely no later than the deadlines listed in the third bullet below.  All teams must submit the following information. 

• A roster for your team.  Rosters can be submitted on the "roster form" posted on the website (or a word-processed document with all of the information) and must contain each player's first and last name, jersey number, home address, school and grade during the 2024-2025 school year.  Updates to this list can be submitted via email throughout the season as needed by providing the names of new players, delete names of players no longer on the team, changes in jersey numbers, changes in addresses, etc.  Rosters can be returned via regular mail (GNBL, P O Box 506, Hudson, WI 54016), by email to jen@gnbl.org or by fax to 715-796-2872.

• A "Consent for Medical Treatment and Voluntary Release, Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Risks Indemnity Agreement" (hereafter "Liability Waiver/Concussion Agreement").  The Liability Waiver, the "Parent and Athlete Concussion Law Agreement" and the coach’s Concussion Agreement are combined into one document to simplify the paperwork for coaches and associations.  The Liability Waiver/Concussion Agreement provides legal protection to you as a coach, your school and your referees, not just those parties organizing the League.  We strongly urge you to take this process seriously.

To submit Liability Waiver/Concussion forms online, for each player on the team have the parent/legal guardian visit our website at gnbl.org, then click on "Waiver/Concussion Info" in the top menu bar.  From there they can follow the online instructions.  Parents (guardians) must complete this process once each season (even if they filled it out last season, we need a new waiver submitted for the 2024-2025 season).  If you have questions during the process, please contact Jen Myer at jen@gnbl.org.

Rosters and Liability Waiver/Concussion forms must be submitted two weeks before the first date your team plays and absolutely no later than the following deadlines for each grade level:

• Deadline for 8th grade girls  and  7th grade girls – November 1

• Deadline for 6th grade girls  and  6th grade boys – December 1

• Deadline for 8th grade boys, 7th grade boys, 5th & 4th grade boys and 5th & 4th grade girls – January 1

• 3rd and 4th Grade Boys and Girls teams participating in the Non-Competitive League in October, November and December, will have a deadline of November 1

All information submitted for each team or player are kept in the League’s office – not circulated to meet hosts – please do not turn them in to anyone at the host community.  If you have questions, please contact Jen Myer, who is handling roster, Liability Waiver/Concussion Agreements, at jen@gnbl.org.  Failure to comply with these rules by not returning completed rosters or failing to complete online submission of Liability Waivers/Concussion Agreements could result in the loss of meets this year or exclusion from League play next season.  Liability Waivers/Concussion Agreements must be submitted each season for each player and each coach. 

Each team will be allowed to carry as many players on its roster as it wants.  Teams with more than 12 players on their roster are encouraged to rotate the players they bring to each meet so that there aren't a large number of players on the bench, which will work to decrease the number of mass substitutions and shorten the overall length of games.  Conversely, teams are expected to have sufficiently large rosters, or have access to players at a younger grade level who can be moved up when needed, so that one or two injuries or illnesses do not cause them to cancel attendance at a meet.  This will not be considered a legitimate, non-weather related excuse within the meaning of Rule A-5.  

Girls will not be allowed to play in League meets for boys.  Likewise, boys are not allowed to play in League meets for girls.

All players must be from the same school district or same community, except where: 

• A player attends a public school in another community under the state's open enrollment law, or a private school in the community of residence or another community, in which case that player will have the option of playing for either the school's team or playing for the community's team – but not both.  An example: a player living in Mosinee, but attending school at Newman Catholic (Wausau), can play for Mosinee or Newman Catholic, not both.  For purposes of this exception, home-schooled children can play either for the team from the school district in which they reside, or for the team associated with the school or community where they are allowed to play school sports or participate in other extracurricular activities, but not for both.

However, no player attending public school, and living and going to school in the same community, can play on two unaffiliated teams during the same season.  Some examples: a 7th grader from the territory covered by Eau Claire North High School can play on that team's "Blue" team one week and on its "Red" team another week, and "up" on the 8th grade team another week – these teams are all "affiliated."  But that same player cannot play on a different weekend for another Eau Claire team that is not associated with the 7th and 8th grade teams described above.

• If a player living in School District A applies to attend school in School District B (either because the player is in the process of moving or is open enrolling), for the upcoming semester, or to attend a specific private school, once that player is accepted in writing at the second school (i.e., either School District B or the private school), that player has the option to play for either the community where they are currently living (School District A) or the team associated with the school they will be attending the next semester (School District B or the private school in question).  Where an application process is required (i.e., open enrollment situation and private school application process), acceptance by the new school must be in writing – it's not sufficient that an application has been made or that the player's parents have been informed orally that their son/daughter "will" or "probably will" be admitted at some point in the future.  A copy of this acceptance must be sent to the GNBL office for our records.

• Two neighboring Wisconsin Division 3, 4 or 5 (Minnesota AA or A) communities can combine their players if both communities otherwise would not have enough players to field a team at that grade level.  No Division 1 or 2 (Minnesota AAAA or AAA) community can field a team in the League with players from another community.  Teams that decide to use this rule exception must notify the League that they are doing so and include both community names in the team name (such as, Mondovi-Gilmanton).  Where combining is allowed, all players from the grade and gender in question in both school districts must be given the opportunity to play on any combined team (it can't be only the best players from one or both communities, or a hand-picked team).  That means sending a note home from school to every student of that grade and gender in both communities, so no one is precluded from participation.

• No teams from communities with two or more public high schools will be allowed to construct multiple district rosters.  Communities with two or more public high schools cannot field teams that draw players from territory that covers more than one of those high schools.  If one middle school feeds two different high schools, those players living in the territory covered by High School A can play for A's feeder team; likewise, those players living in the territory covered by High School B can play on B's feeder team.  Also, the students attending that junior high school can play together as a team.

• Certain children of teachers who are paid to be the head varsity basketball coach in a district in which they do not live.  For example, a head varsity coach who lives in District A, but is paid to be the head coach of District B's girls varsity basketball team, can have their daughters play on a team representing either District A or B during the 2024-2025 season, but cannot play for both.  The same is true of a boys varsity coach's son.  The rationale for this rule exception is that the child in question will very likely play for their parent once they get to high school and should be allowed to play with their prospective high school teammates while younger.

Also, a middle school basketball coach, who lives in District A, but is paid by District B to teach in their schools and/or coach a middle school basketball team, will be allowed to have his/her son or daughter (as long as his/her son/daughter is the same gender and in the same grade as the grade the parent is coaching) play in Saturday League meets, in limited situations, for the team representing District B.  For that to be allowed, both of the following conditions must be met:

• The teacher/coach must receive "significant" compensation to coach this specific team, over and above their teacher's salary.  Significant means "not nominal" (i.e., $25 per season would be "nominal"); it must be consistent with what is paid by neighboring districts to its paid teacher coaches.

• The player in question is not playing "up" solely for the purpose of playing for their parent.  In other words, a 5th or 6th grader living in District A cannot play on District B's 7th grade team coached by their parent, even if all the other conditions above are met.

The rationale for this latter middle school coach exception to the general rule against players from multiple districts playing on the same team, is to allow coaches who are contractually obligated to coach another team of the same age as their son or daughter, the opportunity to spend quality time with their child on weekends.

The objective of this rule as detailed in the various bullets above, is to have League teams that are community-based, and not regional or metropolitan area all-star teams.