What is a Masters Player?

Men age 40 plus and Women 18 plus... are both 'Masters Players'- we have found that women players play very similar to over 40 Men- in that they typically play smart- good basketball with good ball movement- and both play 'below the rim' and less fast than our typical (mostly men) leagues. Ever since we 'added' women to 'Masters players category'- the fit has been perfect. Restated, the programs you will read about below is for Men (40+) and Women (18+) and the ball movement and pace of the Masters type game is very unique, these are wonderful games; come join us!

There are 2 products for Masters players-

Below you will see information about PROGRAM and separately you will see information about LEAGUE (bottom 2 frames below). Note- if you are 'recreational' or on the 'slow side', you will enjoy the 'program' much more than the league.

About the MASTERS 'PROGRAM' (6 OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM):

We have 6 Masters games- that we run for Masters players; these 3 games are like 6 'clubs' that you can join where you show up and play a basketball game. These are not league games but they are Masters basketball 'games'. These 6 games (CLUBS) occur Sundays at 9:20am, 10:15am, 11:05am and/or 12noon. A 5th game option is on Wednesday night 7:40pm-ish and the 6th option is- Thursday nights 7pm-ish. Location of all games- Columbia Christian School - 205  NE 92nd (Portland) or Warner Pacific College- 6800 SE Division Street (Portland). These 'Masters program' games have a supervisor- we use a scoreboard- teams wear black/white jerseys- but it is really 14 players showing up- getting divided to 2 teams and playing a game. Restated- these6 games are league style games but it is more of a CLUB of 14 players- playing at the same time and place every week. The point of this game/program is to play at a Masters pace (a slower game- a smart game). If you want to join 1 of these 6 (masters clubs/time slots), text Mikal 503-380-4539 with something like 'Id like to join this program and play on (day), how many games are left and how much would I owe?'- and from your text, Mikal will immediately text you back with a price (it is very common for players to join- after the official start date) (the cost for full 13 weeks is $159).

Note: there is an option to join for just 1 week ('1 game at a time'); to do this- from the main page of Portlandbasketball website- you will see a link titled- 'PicktoPlay'- click on that link and scroll to find the games labeled 'Masters'.

WHY you should join this Masters Basketball program for the FULL 13 WEEKS? Answers: A) when you pay for 13 days of something, your payment 'forces' you to get that weekly/ongoing workout and B) knowing you are playing 'every week' gives you incentive to get your other workouts in. The Players who do the 'single game option' play less as you are not committed, whereas the players who pay for 'full season' are forced to keep playing, forced to stay in shape- and bottom line- 13 weeks later- these 'full season players' are in way better shape (than those who choose the individual game option); the best way to illustrate my point is a quote that a player said to me one random Sunday- "I am glad I did full season because if I did not (do full season), I would have skipped today and Im glad I came and got this great workout in". Question that you might wonder- well what happens if I quit or get injured? Answer: you get refunded for all remaining games (minus 1) so feel free- join us for FULL session!!!

 Masters Program side notes:

Masters Program note 1: the price we charge for a full season (13 weeks) assumes you will 'miss 3 games out of 13' with being busy, out of town or due to injuries. If you miss a 4th game- you can ask Mikal for a credit on your next session payment.

Masters Program note 2: Masters age players can play in non-masters games of course (go to Portlandbasketball website and click on Picktoplay you can see 25 other non-masters games that you can play in).

About the MASTERS 'LEAGUE' (for teams) (separate from the above described- 'program'):

Yes we do run a Masters league on Wednesday nights for TEAMS. This is for TEAMS who compete in 7 games (with 2 referees and against other Masters teams). Text 503-380-4539 if you have a team you want to put in this league. Games occur in various gyms  in Portland and at game times typically ranging from 6:50pm to 9:40pm (at the very latest). This league is not like the Masters program- as the league is more competitive- yes everyone is over 40 male or female but its different than this Masters program described above. We do not place individuals on teams for this option, but if you play Masters program (above)- you will run into team captains who play in the league - and you can eventually find a team if that is something you would like.

 Masters LEAGUE side notes (for teams):

Masters League note 1: Masters teams in the league will play against other Masters teams; however, there are two scenarios where you would play OUT of division (meaning- your Masters teams will play against a NON-masters team). Scenario A- is 'Summer season' because it is the ONLY season out of SEVEN seasons where we do not have enough Masters teams playing, so we ask you to show up, play the game, take the loss and go home. Scenario B- is if you blow out a fellow Masters team, we will view you as 'straying' from the Masters slow/recreational tone- and while blowouts (25 points or more) do happen- expect your next game to be against a non-Masters team (this is meant to discourage blowouts).

Masters League note 2: let me explain a bit of history... for the recent 2 years this entire Masters program has been working great BUT did you know- this version of Masters is actually our 8th attempt (in 30 years) and historically all of the other attempts failed when we did 'out of division' games b/c Masters teams would pick up some 'young guy' and then 'keep the young guy' (and our Masters program would unravel)... so for 2024, forward: do not allow your team's very rare 'out of division' game to change your roster (and in turn, destroy the Masters league tone). RESTATED: the league will do our best to not have you play out of Masters, but it will happen (rarely) but your team needs to continue (past that game) to stay true to your 'true masters roster'...