Tag: basketball academy

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Down But Not Out

Basketball on floor of empty basketball court

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.

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Preparing for the Fall and Beyond

Basketball on floor of empty basketball court

We hope you had a great summer and are back into the flow of the school year! The Spring/Summer season was very impactful for all of our teams, and we are excited to see what the future holds this year and beyond for all of our players. Our goal as coaches is to help them maximize their potential both individually and collectively and prepare them for the next level. While our program is competitive and wants to do our best, we believe that achieving goals and winning are a by-product of focusing on the process of improving every day.

As we begin the new school year, we have been meeting and planning for this next year. Here are some of the things that are coming up in the Fall that may interest you:

  • We will be conducting workouts in the Katy area for our players and teams with some of our coaches and trainers to help them prepare for their school season. Also, some of our Katy Raptors 2024 8th grade teams will be playing in Fall tournaments to complement the school season. Whether you are a current Katy Raptors player or a player who wants to get better and possibly join our program, email Mike Van Hoozer to find out more and to be connected to one of our trainers.
  • We are currently evaluating expanding the number of teams for our high school players. While we have had our Katy Raptors 2022 team playing by grade for the last 3 years, we may look at having a couple of teams at the high school level across 9-12th grade. One possibility would be to have a Varsity and Junior Varsity team. We believe this would help in their development as they move through high school and open up opportunities for high school players that have reached out to our program but could not join a team due to age limitations of our current team. If you are a high school player and are interested in a different and possibly better AAU experience, feel free to email Mike Van Hoozer about your interest in our teams.
  • We also have our Katy Raptors 2025 7th grade team that will be playing school basketball for the first time this year and continuing their AAU tournaments in the Spring/Summer season.

We are always looking to improve the impact that we can make in the lives of our players and teams on and off the court. We feel confident that we have the coaches and trainers to teach them basketball skills and how to play the game the right way. It’s also the X-factors that we want to share that will help them go beyond self-imposed limitations and provide leadership skills that extend beyond the court. Let us know if you want to join in our efforts!

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Building the Foundation

by Coach Mike Van Hoozer

Whether it is building a house, a basketball team, or your life, you must have a solid foundation. For our 7th grade Katy Raptors team, we invested the month of March and part of April in practices to build the solid foundation based on sound offensive principles, a commitment to a tenacious defensive system, and an intense will to get better and compete every day.

This foundation paid off for us as we had a very successful beginning to our tournament season! We have played in the most competitive tournaments in Houston advancing to the Championship Tournament Bracket in each of our April tournaments. Our first tournament was a very competitive Houston Hoops “Off Da Hook” Tournament. There were over 30 teams in this tournament, and we made it to the quarterfinals losing to the eventual champion of the overall tournament.

Our 2nd tournament was the Pearland Classic, which also had over 30 teams in our age group. We went 2-0 in Pool Play and won our Pool to advance to the Championship Tournament Bracket. We advanced to the semifinals losing to the eventual champion of the  tournament, who is one of the top teams in the country. Our 3rd tournament in April was the Kingwood Classic. Again, we went 2-0 in Pool Play and lost a close game in the quarterfinals, after one of our key players could not play due to an injury.

We are so proud of our team and the resiliency they have shown to go out and play against any team and demonstrate the talent and the teamwork they possess. These guys have earned a ton of respect from other teams and their coaches as well as the people who watch us play! The recurring comments include that “they love the way we move the ball,” “we play basketball the way it was meant to be played,” and “we have a tenacious defense!” Our focus as coaches continues to be to help them develop individually and collectively and to develop them as leaders on and off the court.