We had our tryouts for the 2023 Fall Season last weekend and are looking forward to workin with our coaches to form the teams. For the Fall, we do things a little differently with one practice a week and 4 weekend tournaments in October. We feel like this helps our players navigate their time efficiently if they are playing multiple sports and also prepares them for their school tryouts and basketball season.
Regarding individual and group training, we will begin that again after the Fall Season. If you are interested in specialized training for your son as well as the Spring/Summer AAU season, feel free to email Coach Kingsley or Mike Van Hoozer to get more information and be put on the list.
This was not the beginning to the Spring/Summer 2020 season that we expected! The world is adjusting to new terms like “social distancing” and new norms of interacting as we adjust to being responsible in response to this pandemic virus. No one could have predicted that the NBA would be postponed, March Madness would have been canceled, and school and churches would have to adjust to virtual interactions. Given all of this, we have temporarily put our season on hold. Your coaches will be in touch with you about the rest of the season and when we can resume practices and games.
While practices have been postponed for several weeks and AAU tournaments have been canceled for now, you can still work on your game at home. Here are a couple of resources that I have followed for years and highly recommend:
Home Court App – This app is being used by a lot of pro teams in addition to college, high school, and youth teams. You can download it from the app store and then use it to both record your shots and skill work and capture excellent analysis of your workout. The app is free and they have different levels of subscriptions. The biggest news is that they have opened up all of their paid features for free until the end of April in response to the current circumstances. You can check it out at: https://www.homecourt.ai
Drew Hanlen – Drew Hanlen is an incredible basketball trainer who has worked with college and pro basketball players including Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, and Bradley Beal. Drew is a great follow on Instagram and often posts highlights of his training sessions. He also has an app and courses that you can purchase on his web site: https://puresweatbasketball.com. A free resource that he offers is his text community, where you can have him text you daily and weekly drills to do at home. Text this number (314-461-1862) with the message: Include me in this community. You should then be added to the list.
Paul Frabritz – Paul is an NBA Performance Specialist who focuses on skill development and vertical jumping ability. He is a great follow on Instagram (@pjfperformance) and often posts videos of skill and vertical jumping skill development sessions. He also has programs that you can purchase and do at home.
The main thing we pray for you and your family is that you are safe during this time and find a way to connect in new ways. Slowing down often allows you to take stock in what matters the most and focus on the most important priorities. We also want our players to continue to develop in mind, body, and spirit and hope these resources that I have suggested will help them continue to grow in their development. Keep checking back for additional thoughts, insight, and resources.
It has been a great year for all of our Katy Raptors players who are playing on their respective Jr High and High School teams. After working hard for 3 solid years, all of the players on our Katy Raptors 2025 team made their school’s A Team. Our Katy Raptors 2024 players are showing off their skills and making an incredible impact on their school teams as well. We are so proud of these players and grateful for our coaches and trainers who are building leaders on and off the court and helping them maximize their potential!
Our Katy Raptors 2022 players are also making a great impact on both Varsity and JV teams for their schools. We are so proud of them for setting a great example for our younger teams as they work hard to pursue their goals. For this upcoming season, we are planning to move this team up to be a Varsity team made up of 16-17 year old players. We think this team is ready for the challenge and is already playing at this level for their respective school teams. We also have had a lot of older players ask if they could play for our program, and we have not had a team for them.
As we prepare for this transition, we are accepting inquiries for high school players who might be interested in playing for this Varsity team. Ideally, we are looking for a few post and wing players. If you are interested in playing for a program that provides great coaching, solid and purposeful skill training, leadership and mental toughness development sessions, and helps prepare players for the next level, we would love to hear from you about your experience and interest. You can email Mike Van Hoozer and provide the following information:
Name and Age
School Team including which team you play for (Varsity, JV, etc.)
AAU Experience over the last 3-5 years
Height and Weight
What you are looking for in an AAU experience
Based on the interest, we will conduct some private workouts in the coming weeks.
All of our teams are now full and practicing and playing in tournaments! Our 2024 teams have led the way so far with some impressive finishes in their tournaments including final four finishes in the Rytes Warriors Spring Break Tournament this past weekend! We look forward to making this season a great moment and helping to develop our players to be leaders on and off the court!
If you are still interested in playing on one of our teams, you can email me to be put on a waiting list. While we may not be able to get you into one of our programs this year, there still may be opportunities for your son to train with us either in a group or individual setting with one of our coaches or trainers.
We are in the planning stages for our Spring/Summer AAU season and looking forward to developing our leaders on and off the court! If this sounds like something you would be interested in for your son, check out our teams and programs and email me for more information. If you are not a part of one of our teams or academy, we would love to talk to you to see if it is a fit for your student athlete. All of our teams including our 2022 team, which I personally coach, will be looking for a few select athletes to join us for the Spring/Summer AAU season. We also offer skills and shooting training for players who might be a fit for our program.
If you are interested in joining our program, email me with the following information:
Your name and phone number
Your son’s name
Current grade and school
Current school team and level and any select teams that he has played for
What you are looking for in an AAU basketball program for your son
We are planning some workouts for prospective players in the coming weeks and would be glad to include you in those based on the needs of our teams and the fit within our program. We are very selective on the type of player that will be a good fit for our program and want competitive players who want to develop further as a basketball player and leader on and off the court. We don’t want to just assemble a group of talented individuals. We want to develop a great team of competent and capable leaders who want to be coached and developed to help them maximize their potential and achieve their goals!
