We are excited about the upcoming AAU basketball season and are beginning planning and preparation for what this year will look like. We will be having tryouts for our boys 9th grade team as well as a new 7th grade team on February 7th at Campbell Elementary. The 9th grade team will have tryouts from 9 am to 10:30 am, and the 7th grade tryouts will be from 10:30 am to 12 pm. We will be abiding by Katy ISD health and safety protocols including having every player wear a face covering and socially distancing from others when not engaging in an activity on the court. Please make sure that your son brings a mask or face cover to wear.
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.
This season has been excellent for all of our teams! Our Katy Raptors basketball program has grown in interest and impact, and we have expanded to 5 teams including one 6th grade team, three 7th grade teams, and one 9th grade team. The boys have improved in their basketball ability and skills, their mental toughness and resiliency, and their leadership on and off the court.
Regarding our 9th grade team, I am so proud of the way they have played this season! They have had to learn to play with some new teammates, and we have had to manage through injuries to key position players. Through it all, they have focused on being present in the moment and giving their best – key principles that we discuss a lot during our Leadership Moments at practice. They have played in 5 very competitive tournaments with an overall record of 17-6. They have made it to the Championship game in every tournament with a first place finish in one of them.
While there have been many great wins along with some tough losses, our best tournament performance may have been the Kingwood Classic. In this tournament, they played in the NCAA Certified Division, won their Pool Play bracket, and lost in the Platinum Division Championship Game finishing with a 4-1 overall record against some of the top teams in the nation!
As our summer schedule begins, we have a couple of open slots if you are interested in joining our 9th grade team and becoming a part of our program. Email Coach Mike Van Hoozer with the following information:
We are so proud of our Katy Raptors 2024 team and their progress this year! They recently won back-to-back tournaments the last 2 weekends including a VYPE tournament in Houston.
Coach Mark Sanchez and the rest of our coaches are doing a great job with this group and preparing them not only for the rest of this season but also as they enter into the next level of Junior High basketball and sports. Most importantly as with all of our teams, we are striving to develop leaders on and off the court! We are really proud of this team and all that they are accomplishing!
The new year is here, and we are excited to build on the success of our teams and our program from last year! All of our teams grew in skills, experience, and knowledge and are looking forward to the upcoming AAU basketball season.
For 2018, the Van Hoozer Basketball Academy will be supporting 3 teams:
There is a chance that we will have a fourth team as well. Our focus is to develop the whole player – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Our mission is to develop leaders on and off the court and to prepare all of our players to perform at the next level. For 2018, we will accomplish this mission by continuing to offer these unique programs and opportunities:
Playing in the most competitive basketball tournaments
Organized basketball and skill development practices through the AAU season
“Leadership Moments” during practices where we focus on leadership skill development with all of our players
Mental Game Training to help all of our players becoming mentally tough and develop skills and techniques to be resilient and determined
NEW: Individual Skill Development – We will also be offering individual skill development for players that want further basketball training including shooting, ball handling, and position player development. Email me if you are interested in reserving a spot for individual training.
While we are not holding open tryouts for our teams, you can still inquire about opportunities to play for one of our teams or to sign up for individual skill development training by emailing me.
