Black Club Newsletter 12/14/2023

Esface Closes 2023 Tournament season on a high note

For the final time in 2023, Team Esface took on the tournament scene at the 4Ballers Only Jingle Jam and BullDawgs Holiday Invitational. There were plenty of highlights, led by the 4th Grade Goers and 6th Grade Goers winning the top division of the Jingle Jam. We also saw two-win weekends from the 5th Grade Goers, 8th Grade Goers, and 8th Grade Hitters. Thank you to everyone who made 2023 a great year and here’s to more success in 2024!

Team Esface Takes the Court at Stanford this sunday

We’re just a few days away from watching our 5th Grade Black teams play at halftime of the Stanford game on Sunday! Come out to watch as the Cardinal play Idaho and former Team Esface athlete Miles Klapper at 2pm. We’ll be meeting across the street at Town and Country at 11:30am for a pre-game meal and opportunity to bond with your team beforehand. You can still buy tickets using this link. See you there!

Alumni Spotlight: Current High School Athletes

This week we wanted to check-in on a few of our current high school athletes! Palo Alto High School recently won the 2023 Burlingame Lions Tourney Invitational behind a pair of Team Esface Black Club and College Prep athletes. Junior Jorell Clark was named Tournament MVP while fellow junior Gavin Haase was named to the All-Tournament team. The duo have been a dominant 1-2 punch as each scored 20 points in a win over Pacific Grove earlier this season and Clark scored 21 while Haas added 14 in a win over Hillsdale. Palo Alto is currently 7-0 on the season.

Serra senior Andrew McDowell was recently named to the all-tournament team at the De La Salle Spartan Classic where the Padres went 2-1 at the event. Serra, featuring six Team Esface alumni, is currently ranked as the #6 team in the Bay Area by CalHi Sports and #8 by the Bay Area News Group.

Anthony Atkinson has been having a big sophomore season at Burlingame, as he was named to the San Mateo Daily Journal’s Honor Roll of the Week’s Best Athletic Performances. In a 54-45 win against Mountain View, Atkinson set a career-high with 16 points including a 4-for-4 showing from three-point range. The Panthers are currently 5-2 on the year as Atkinson has seen his role increase in his second year on varsity.

Basketball 101: Increase Parent’s Hoop Understanding

This is a great video about young players learning how to be great teammates and basketball players from Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma from the University of Connecticut. In this day and age of social media, it can be hard for some players to keep the mindset of being a good teammate at all times, especially as they grow older. As Coach Geno speaks, he believes that all young players want to be good teammates but it requires not only a commitment from players/coaches but also parents. We want all parents to continue to help their athletes understand how important it is to have a team-first mindset because if they want to continue to play this game in the future at a high level, they will need to be great teammates!

Coming Up…

This weekend we’ll be having our Saturday competitions with an opportunity to compete amongst peers for a 90-minute scrimmage setting. The schedule is listed below:

3rd/4th Grade: 12:00-1:30pm

5th/6th Grade: 1:30-3:00pm

7th/8th Grade: 3:00-4:30pm

Next week we’ll have our regularly scheduled two practices before starting our seasonal break. We also have some drop-in transformation options that we just opened up for December 15th, December 17th, December 18th, and December 20th. You can find more information and register using the button below.

Also as a reminder, we’ll be having free open gym slots during the break on December 27th and December 29th from 4:00-5:30pm at SportsHouse. We’ll also be having our Holiday camps from December 27th-December 29th and January 2nd-January 5th. You can find more information and register for camps on a day-to-day basis using the button below. We’ll be excited to get back on the court on January 8th as we prepare for our first tournament back from break on January 13-14. Let’s have a strong week of practice before enjoying the holiday break!

We crave to learn and grow. The best way for us to grow is 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 an option to get in contact with an HQ member in the link as well. We look forward to hearing from you!