Golden Gate League Concludes Regular Season

This past Saturday ended the regular season of the Golden Gate League as the playoffs begin this weekend! Huge shoutout to the 6th Grade Goers on two tough wins!

Heading into the postseason, our academy sits at a competitive 39-33 record with still plenty of room to grow. We’ve come a long ways in just a month and excited to see all of our teams compete for a title this weekend!

Black Club Testing: Top Scores!

*Click Left or Right of the Picture to Scroll*

We wanted to take a moment to shoutout all of our top scorers from our Black Club Testing last week!

The Splash Boy (or Girl, shoutout Aila!) is given to the top scorer in our shooting drills. We combine our Star and 72 shooting drills to take the top overall makes, with a max score of 24. 3rd-5th grade shoot from mid-range while 6th-8th grade shoot from 3-point range.

The Quickest Feet of the Month is given to the winner of our NBA Box drill. This requires an athlete to sprint, slide, and backpedal within a short distance.

The Marathon Man is given to the winner of our 17 drill. We record the overall score in seconds and see how fast an athlete can touch the sideline going back-and-forth 17 times. Congratulations to all of our winners and excited to see our growth next month!

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: JEREMIAH TESTA

For this week’s alumni spotlight we wanted to showcase another first-born son and 2016 high school graduate, Jeremiah Testa!

Jeremiah was a Team Esface teammate of last week’s spotlight, Ben Kone, and part of Team Esface’s first-ever AAU teams. After playing in the Team Esface Black Club, Jeremiah had a standout career at both the high school and collegiate levels.

As a member of the Serra High School basketball team, Jeremiah helped lead the Padres to their first-ever state championship in school history as a senior. He was named to the All-WCAL First Team and also earned All-CCS honors.

Following his graduation, Jeremiah signed locally to play at Menlo College where he etched his name into the record books. Jeremiah graduated as the fourth all-time leading scorer for the Oaks and ranks top 10 all-time in field goals, free throws, and steals. He started for a team that was ranked 20th in the country and headed to the NAIA National Tournament before it was cancelled due to COVID.

Off the court, Jeremiah was elected as the Senior Class President at Menlo College and named a NAIA Scholar Athlete. Following his graduation, he stayed locally and is now a tax professional at Ernst and Young.

For those who were at summer camp you might have seen him in the coaches game and be sure to catch him again this summer!

Basketball 101: Increase Parent’s Hoop Understanding

We all know how important confidence is in an athlete’s game and development, but how can it be built?

Often times we have parents ask how to improve their player’s confidence as they might be lacking in that area. The first question we always ask is: Are they working on their game outside of practice?

Too often we mistake a “lack of confidence” for what is actually a “heightened sense of self-awareness.” If an athlete isn’t consistently working on their game to grow their skills, then it would be far more alarming if they were confident during games. How can an athlete walk into a game with full confidence if they haven’t practiced the shots and moves they’ll be using on gameday?

We often like to say that players do not “rise to the occasion” but rather “fall to their preparation.” To make big shots in big moments, athletes will revert back to how hard they’ve trained throughout their career. If an athlete can’t consistently make 7/10 free throws on their own, would we expect them to make an important free throw in a big moment?

While we always work on our skills during practice, there’s also lots of other situations, plays, and drills to be covered during practice. Even by playing just twice a week, it will limit an athlete’s growth when there’s still another five days to work on your game.

We encourage everyone to watch the clip below with their athlete as Damian Lillard answers the question, “How do you get your jump shot that deadly?” He believes it comes from the reps, which ultimately builds his confidence as a shooter. Be sure to share this clip with your athlete!

Coming Up…

This will be the final weekend of the Golden Gate League as the playoffs take place both Saturday and Sunday. Be sure to check TeamSnap for your schedule and please mark your availability on TeamSnap so we know our roster for the weekend. Let’s go finish strong!

Following the Golden Gate League, we’ll have our first Saturday practice on a non-tournament weekend. We’ll then gear up for the Winter tournaments that begin on the October 21-22 weekend. Be sure to check out our tournament schedule here.

We crave to learn and grow. The best way for us to grow with your valued feedback. Please use the above link anytime to let us know how things are going (positives and negatives) for the Black Club. *There’s a link to get in contact with an HQ member in the link as well