Katy Raptors – Page 2 – Van Hoozer Basketball Academy

September 28, 2018

Preparing for the Fall Season and Beyond

We hope that school is going well for everyone! We encourage so many of our athletes to focus on multiple sports and various forms of training both in season and out of season to maximize their talent and abilities. In our experience and in talking with high school and college coaches, they appreciate and recruit multi-sport athletes because of their versatility, athleticism, and leadership.

Basketball on floor of empty basketball court

As it relates to basketball, we hope everyone is planning for a great Fall and Winter season in both competitive youth leagues, Junior High, and High School. The players on our teams have invested time in their Spring and Summer AAU season to grow and become better and look forward to demonstrating what they have learned for their respective school teams.

Our Academy mission is to use basketball as a vehicle to develop leaders on and off the court, and our focus is to prepare them for the next level of competition including high school and college. We want all of our athletes to be successful and impactful leaders who leverage the skills and core values that they learn through our academy in whatever they do. We are confident that we can teach them to play basketball the right way; the differentiator is developing their leadership and mental toughness skills.

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 some skills and shooting training for players who might be a fit for our program.

Basketball is an excellent sport to learn teamwork, leadership, and perseverance, and we look forward to helping our athletes develop in all of those areas! After all, we are preparing them for the Fall season and beyond!

July 20, 2018July 20, 2018

Spurs National Championship Update

Katy Raptors 2022 at 2018 Spurs Championship

Our Katy Raptors 2022 team had a great showing at the 2018 Spurs National Basketball Championship Tournament! They won their Pool Play division going 2-0 in decisive wins. They won their first tournament bracket game by a big margin earning a place in the Gold Championship Tournament Bracket. While the final result was not what we wanted, I love the heart and talent of this incredible team! We lost our Elite 8 tournament game in a heartbreaker by 1 on a last second shot late Saturday night after playing our third game of a long day!

Overall, we finished 3-1 in the Spurs National Championship and had college referees and other coaches and fans complimenting the way these young men play the game and compete! I am so proud of our Katy Raptors team and parents! I love coaching this team, and I would go to battle any day with these guys! We have one tournament left this season and are looking forward to competing in the 2018 Prime Time National Basketball Championship in Dallas July 25-29th.

June 25, 2018

Back to Back Tournament Wins!

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.

Katy Raptors 2024

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!

Katy Raptors 2024

May 31, 2018

Mid Season Report

The Katy Raptors 2022 team has a done a great job in the first half of their season! The focus for this team has been integrating a couple of new players, competing in competitive tournaments, and preparing this group for high school basketball. They have responded well with a 10-2 record, going undefeated in Pool Play in every tournament we have played in. They won a qualifying Prime Time championship tournament, finished in the quarterfinals of the Pearland/Houston Showcase Tournament, and finished in the semifinals of the Summer Prep Showcase.

We have also continued developing all of the players in our basketball academy with our “Leadership Moments.” In April, we had former Seven Lakes High School and Stephen F. Austin point guard Trey Pinkney come and speak about working hard to achieve your dreams.

In May, we had Seven Lakes Head Basketball Coach Shannon Heston come and speak about developing championship habits.

Now, the focus is on getting prepared for 2 big national championships that we have been invited to in San Antonio and Dallas in July. Coaches who are interested in our schedule can view it here. You can also contact Head Coach Mike Van Hoozer for player and information inquiries.

May 28, 2018

Raptors Continue to Roll!

It is an awesome opportunity to invest in the next generation of basketball players! We love seeing their growth and progress and helping them realize their potential both now and in the future. Our 5th and 6th grade teams have been playing in some competitive tournaments and showing a lot of progress!

The 5th Grade season has been a journey of learning and developing our young men on and off the court. Our program has competed in tournaments ranging from VYPE, Primetime Sports, Houston Hoops and Alodia. They continue to challenge themselves both physically and mentally. Our players have responded through adversity with their grit and determination. The program continues to build on last year’s momentum, and our players are continuing to compete at a high level. As we head into the final month of the tournament season they will be traveling to Frisco, TX for their final tournament of the season. They are looking forward to finishing strong in 2018!

Our 6th grade team has been playing at a very high level making it to the championship game several times in some very competitive tournaments! They broke through 2 weeks ago and won the championship of a VYPE tournament, and we are so proud of their progress. They will continue playing in June and July completing their tournament season with an invitation to compete in the Prime Time National Basketball Championship in Dallas July 25-29th!

March 26, 2018

First Tournament Championship of the Season!

Our Katy Raptors teams were very active in several different tournaments this past weekend including the Prime Time Sports Spring Shootout. Our Katy Raptors 2024 team made it to the championship game and came in 2nd place in a very close game. Our Katy Raptors 2022 team went 5-0 and won the championship game for their first tournament and their first tournament championship of the season. I was very proud of how this team played including their speed, teamwork, tempo, and defense.

Our Katy Raptors 2025 team played in a tournament at Alodia and came in 2nd place. We are excited to announce that we now have 4 teams that are playing within our academy, and all of our teams are working hard at becoming their best both individually and collectively as a team. We are also conducting our “leadership moments” on Monday nights as a part of our practice to focus on leadership, teamwork, and mental sports performance principles and techniques.

We are excited about the tournament season and helping our players develop as leaders on and off the court!

February 12, 2018

Official Practice Begins March 5

Now that school basketball has finished, we will be officially kicking off our tournament season on March 5th for all of our teams. Our players and coaches are excited about the opportunity to grow, develop, and compete! Our mission and focus is to develop leaders on and off the court and take a holistic approach to skill development physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In addition to our skill building practices and playing in the most competitive tournaments, we will have even more opportunities this year for them to develop as a player and person including:

Leadership moments – Group sessions for all of our players to come together and develop leadership skills as well as skills around mental toughness and character development.
Friends of The Program Moments – Group sessions where we invite friends of our basketball and leadership academy to come in and share their expertise in the areas of peak performance, personal development, and effective skills for navigating the next level of high school, college, and beyond.
Goal Setting – Individual opportunities to teach all of our players our effective system for setting and achieving the right goals.
Serving The Community – Team opportunities to participate in service projects for people and causes within our sphere of influence.
Individual and Team Training – Opportunities to sign up for additional skill training including shooting, specific position play including playing point guard, speed and explosiveness training from my friend and peak performance colleague Will Collins, etc.

The difference is always seen in the changed lives of others, and we are looking forward to continuing to make a positive impact in the lives of the players in our program both on and off the court!

January 5, 2018

A New Year!

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.

August 8, 2017

A Season To Remember

We completed our first season as an official basketball academy with all 3 teams (4th grade, 5th grade, and 7th grade) having success, impact, and growth. I am so proud of each and every player and family that participated in our programs this year!

Our Katy Raptors 7th grade team finished their season playing in the Prime Time National Basketball Championship in Dallas July 24-30, 2017. We received an invitation to play in this tournament based on our success in other tournaments and had a great experience. As we had done in many of our tournaments, we won our Pool Play on the first 2 days going 3-0 to advance to the championship tournament bracket. In tournament play, we went 2-1, losing a very close game to a team that went on to finish 3rd overall. Overall, we went 5-1 and made it to the Sweet Sixteen out of about 100 very good teams. Our boys demonstrated that they can play with anyone and showed tenacity, grit, and leadership.

Throughout our season, everyone who played against us or watched our team play consistently commented that they loved how we played as a team including our tenacious defense and constantly moving the basketball and trusting each other on offense. To me, this is what basketball is all about and how basketball was meant to be played. It’s also what we are striving to teach all of the players across the teams in our academy. We also want to develop them as leaders on and off the court and help them grow in all dimensions of their lives – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Thanks to everyone who supported us this year, and we look forward to another great season next year! If you are interested in supporting our leadership and basketball academy, we are a non-profit organization, and you can donate to our mission here. You can also email me to find out more about our program including the opportunity to sponsor our organization.

June 15, 2017June 15, 2017

Success Comes From Competing

by Coach Mike Van Hoozer

Hard work, discipline, preparation, and focus are necessary ingredients for the recipe for success. The willingness to compete is the temperature that is needed to make these ingredients come to life. As we entered the month of May, our 7th grade Katy Raptors team knew it had what it takes to have success both on and off the court. Their confidence had been developed through practice and tournaments in April and led to more wins against some great teams in May and June.

We played in the Houston Hoops “Summer Prep Showcase” in May. Our team went 2-0 in Pool Play, winning in decisive fashion in both of our games. We then advanced to the tournament bracket and went 3-0 in tournament play winning the overall tournament with an overall weekend record of 5-0. We beat some great teams in both the semifinals and the championship game and did it with only 6 players!

In June, we played in a Prime Time Sports Tournament going 5-0 and winning the whole tournament, again with only 6 players due to some injuries. We earned a ton of respect from opposing teams, coaches, players, and people who watched us play in both our May and June tournaments!

Overall, we are 17-4 through 5 tournaments. Our success as a team led to an at large invitation to play in the Prime Time Sports National Basketball Championship in Dallas July 26-30, 2017. We are really looking forward to this opportunity and are preparing to represent our school and community well! If you want to make a donation to our Basketball Academy to offset the costs of practice facilities, tournament fees, and travel costs, you can make a donation here.