Salem Hoops Project is hosting a free youth basketball clinic for kindergarten through 5th grade boys and girls.
When: Saturday, November 16th, 9:00 am to 10:00 am
Where: McKay High School, Salem, Oregon
To register (or if you have questions), contact Matt Espinoza at salemhoopsproject@gmail.com.
The Hoop Salem is offering a free basketball clinic for boys and girls of all ages on Monday, November 11th, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.
More info? Click here.
LViz Basketball is hosting two upcoming basketball clinics in Sherwood for 5th through 8th grade girls.
THANKSgiving Clinic
9:00 am to 1:00 pm
November 29th, 2013
Sherwood Middle School
Sherwood, Oregon
CHRISTmas Clinic
9:00 am to 1:00 pm
December 26th, 27th, 30th & 31st, 2013
Laurel Ridge Elementary
Sherwood, Oregon
You can learn more and register here.
The Practice Facility is hosting their No School Hoop Clinic at their facility in Tigard on Thursday, November 7th and Friday, November 8th. Open to boys and girls, morning session are for 1st – 6th grades and afternoon sessions are for 7th – 12th grades.
For more info, contact them. And you can follow The Practice Facility on Twitter at @PracticeF.
Maximum Exposure Basketball is hosting an exposure event in Oregon City this Sunday, so we interviewed Coach Travis Persinger to learn more it.
For kids new to the basketball scene, what is an exposure event? And why would they want to attend?
The first thing parents need to understand, and I had to learn early as a coach, is the difference between a basketball camp and an exposure event. At camps, players learn. Exposure events are different. They are all about getting your kid exposed to others. Exposure events are so kids can get an opportunity for other people to hear about them, not just people in their 50 mile radius. If you think your kid has something, they need exposure, because recruiting is so different now. It’s easier for a college coach to google than to fly to the West Coast to watch a 30 minute session, so exposure events allows them to be exposed to people they just wouldn’t be normally.
What happens after someone attends one of your clinics? Do you send them cards at the holiday? Or something much cooler?
Three weeks after the event, players get their evaluation from our staff of former Division 1 coaches. Obviously, current D1 coaches can’t attend or they’d be breaking the rules, so it has to be former coaches. We’ve got a good idea what to look for and what translates, so the evaluation has three to five good things and three to five things that could be improved or are bad. Then, we recommend a Divison based on what we’ve seen. At the end of each session (Fall, Spring and Summer), we compile all of the evaluations and send them to every coach in the country. Now, I can’t guarantee Coach K will see it, but it’s in his Inbox, so players have a better chance than if they attended no events at all.
Why Portland? How did you determine that Portland should be one of your stops?
When we were scouting locations, we didn’t see many exposure events in Portland, so we thought it needed one given all of the elite basketball activity in the area.
What are two things you consistently see from players that need to be improved?
Defense: Every college coach loves players that play hard on defense. We see a lot of players that play hard on offense, but as soon as they go the other way, their demeanor changes. If you are strong on offense, you need to do it on defense too. That energy needs to translate both ways.
Basketball IQ: Kids with really good basketball IQ’s stick out first. They may have less athleticism or skill, but they can read the ball. IQ is just one of those things is huge and helps you stick out like a sore thumb, in a good way. You can get away without it for awhile, but it eventually catches up to you.
Why don’t kids talk more on defense?
Ha! Great question. Tom Crean at Indiana just addressed that in an interview. He said communication has become a skill. A skill that needs to be taught and practiced. We stress to players that they have to communicate. And I won’t get too deep into my thoughts on technology, but it may play part of it. There is no real emphasis on verbal communication in the real world, so kids don’t know how to. And it’s not just in basketball. I have a friend that coaches college baseball and he has 18 and 19 year olds that won’t call for the ball.
How can a kid improve his basketball IQ?
More often than not, I tell players, “You’ve got to play! Got to play! Got to play!” Game experience is really important to improving basketball IQ. Players need to be in real game situations. At the end of the day, you can be a great coach, but it’s hard to immolate a real game in practice. Secondly, sit down and watch basketball. If it’s with your parents, even better. But, I recognize it’s hard because parents don’t always know what to look for. Ultimately, watch the game. Talk the game. Play the game. You can’t be good at riding a bike if you only do it once a year.
For more info on Maximum Exposure Basketball and Sunday’s event, click here.
And you can follow them on Twitter at @MaximumXBball.
Michael Johnson and David Lucas at All In One are hosting their Dust Off The Skills Clinic at The Courts in Beaverton on Tuesday, November 5th and Thursday, November 7th from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. Attend one day or both bays, your call.
Contact them for details. Or register here.
Pure Advantage is hosting a two day basketball boot camp at Union High School in Camas, WA on November 2nd & 3rd.
For more info, click here.
Maximum Exposure Basketball is hosting an exposure event clinic at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City on Sunday, November 3rd.
As of today, they still had some openings, but recommended registering ASAP.
You can find details and register here.
Oregon Trail Hoops 