Fall Basketball Registration Opens Soon!

Juniors Basketball is designed to provide young children with a learning environment that allows them to explore the game of Basketball.  The fundamental skills of Basketball: dribbling, passing, shooting, and defense, are introduced to players in the program.  Practice sessions are comprised of two types of activities: free-play and directed learning.  During free-play, children are given equipment and allowed to play with it as desired while remaining in the activity area.  This allows them to explore their own ideas and apply knowledge and skills learned during directed learning.  Directed learning activities are loosely organized activities where the coach teaches Basketball skills and concepts.  Often times, this is a child's first experience of organized sports.

This program is best for children who have a natural affinity for playing with balls.  A good sign is if your child is always carrying and playing with a ball.  Children at the age of 3 must have an intrinsic desire to play sports and with a ball, otherwise they tend to show low interest rates in participation. 

These classes are only 30 minutes in duration to account for attention spans of toddlers.

Youth Basketball is designed to start teaching players the structure, skills, and concepts of Basketball.  Players start learning about the lines, boundaries, and basic rules along with fundamental skills and concepts.  Players learn fundamental skills such as dribbling, passing, and shooting as an isolated skill and as part of a sequence.  For example, instead of just learning to dribble, players practice "dribble then shoot" or "dribble then pass".  Off-ball skills such as rebounding, stealing, and blocking a shot are taught alongside off-ball concepts such as getting open for a pass, positioning for a rebound, and matching up on defense.

One of 13GEM's specialties is teaching abstract concepts such as spacing and teamwork to young players.  As individual skills are mastered, we focus on developing players' minds to process algorithms of teamwork and strategy.

Rec Basketball is designed to develop children into skillful and knowledgeable basketball players.  Players are taught developmentally appropriate skills and concepts based on their age grouping.  All players are coached to be fundamentally sound in dribbling, passing, shooting, rebounding, and defending because the ability to learn complex concepts and strategies depend on the ability to perform fundamental skills well.  Increasingly more advanced skills will be taught such as using the triple-threat position and boxing out for a rebound.

The major differentiator between the Basketball programming for this older age grouping and the younger age groupings is the level of conceptual and strategic complexity.  13GEM Sporting's philosophies are very team-oriented and emphasizes moving and sharing the ball among teammates, so players will be taught concepts such as cutting to the basket, performing a give-and-go or screen-and-roll, running the floor on the fast break after a defensive rebound, and the difference between zone and matchup defense.  There will be a major emphasis on the growth of players' minds in seeing and processing the game of Basketball in a manner that maximizes personal growth and team success.