The Foundation of Hoops is designed to provide a unique basketball experience to the level of player that is the building block and the foundation of the game. These players represent a vast majority of youth that are involved in basketball at the introductory or developing stage of the game.
The Foundation of Hoops is envisioned to provide a program and framework to allow these players to grow and develop through a varied approach encompassing multiple events. Below you will find the basis of each of these components and how they relate and provide a path for development and continued participation and growth:
Camps & Clinics
Instructional Camps and Clinics for youth players provide an opportunity for directed instruction and repetition. These Camps and Clinics will provide a great deal of individual instruction and will include many of the basic concepts of growing and succeeding individually as a player in a team sport. For younger ages, much of this will be focused on skill development, allowing each player to have a foundation for building on the advanced concepts of basketball.
Coaching Instruction
This level of basketball has traditionally been coached by tireless volunteers that are willing to give of themselves to the game and to the kids involved. Foundation of Hoops wants to provide these individuals with tools and resources to help them in their level of education as well as their knowledge base. This will increase the learning curve of the players under their tutelage and allow them to guide these players to the next level of youth basketball.
League Play
League play is a valuable tool for youth players. Many recreational or developmental leagues have standardized rules that allow teams and players to focus on the basic skill sets that a youth basketball player needs to develop. This fits into the Foundation of Hoops theory of building the individual skills inside the framework of the game before developing the game skills and nuances of team play.
Traditionally these leagues give players a chance to apply things they have learned in practice and yet allow them to experience the advantages of the competitive side of sport and attain the benefits that are provided.
Tournament Play
Tournaments provide a unique experience for teams and players at this level. The largest benefit comes from the opportunity to apply what is learned IMMEDIATELY. In a tournament setting there are typically multiple games in a day, allowing a coach to demonstrate new techniques and teaching points after a game and get the kids back onto the court to allow them to implement those strategies before they are lost.
One key component of the tournament setting will be competitive balance. We recognize that it is important that teams be able to participate and compete in a setting that provides them with a challenging setting that gives them a chance for success or meaningful learning. There are multiple ways to control this and to maximize the potential for each team.
- Application process. Each team will be required to submit an application with complete roster information.
- Divisions of play. Even with limiting the pool of teams that are eligible for the Foundation of Hoops events, we will still attempt to partner teams with others from their competitive level to give the best overall competition.