Welcome Back Black Club Families!

We’re excited to have everyone back for the Fall/Winter season! A lot to catch up on over the course of the summer and want to update everyone on special programming for this year.

Esface Alumni Rishan Patel Awarded with ESPY

Team Esface was excited to see one of our alumni honored on the big stage this summer! Rishan Patel was one of three ESPY recipients to be honored with the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award, given to young people who are using the power of sport as a catalyst for change and making a positive impact on society.

Now a junior at Serra High School, Rishan is the founder and CEO of a sports equity nonprofit called “Alley-Oop Kids'“ that works to build lockers full of sports equipment for under-resourced schools and facilities. Through this program, Rishan leads a project called Lending Lockers, which are installed with gear and equipment at under resourced schools.

“Being from Silicon Valley, one of the wealthiest areas in the country, I’d have basketball practices 10 minutes away in East Palo Alto and in Oakland,” Patel said in an interview with the Bay Area News Group. “After those practices and games, I’d notice that there’s kids who didn’t have the same resources I did. Some of them were playing in slides, and using deflated volleyballs as basketballs.”

Rishan has utilized partnerships with Good Sports to use unsold equipment as well as hosted drives at his own school to collect old sports equipment. There are currently over 100 lockers globally that give over 70,000 kids access to gear and equipment, scaling from as close as Summit Prep in Redwood City all the way to India. While no longer playing basketball, Rishan has taken his athletic abilities to the track and field team at Serra.

“Sports are what gave me confidence,” Patel said in an interview with ABC 7. “It made me break the shy shell of what I used to be.”

Welcome the Newest Team Esface Member!

This summer Coach Dele and his wife, Kelsey, welcomed their first child Ayo into the Team Esface family! They send their appreciation for all the families who reached out and we’re excited to see Ayo in our NeoPrep program soon!

Golden Gate League Underway

We threw our teams into the fire right away last weekend in the Golden Gate League and made some strong first impressions! This will be a 4-week league culminating in a single elimination playoff October 7-8. We’ll be playing specifically on Saturdays with two games each weekend to compete for top seeding. After the regular season, all teams will compete for a championship during the final weekend.

Special congratulations to the 3rd Grade Goers, 4th Grade Goers, and 5th Grade Goers for opening the season 2-0! Lots of work left to do and excited to see all our teams grow throughout the season.

First Season of Summer Squads a Success!

This past summer was our first time releasing our Summer Squad programming for Black Club families and it was a huge success! Players were merged into three teams based on age and gave us a 3rd/4th, 5th/6th, and 7th/8th team.

Our 3rd/4th team kicked the season off with a strong start, opening a perfect 7-0 in local tournaments. They proceeded to play up a grade level which included an impressive 20-point win over a 5th grade team at Sequoia High School. The team finished the last two weekends in Oakland playing up a grade, highlighted with a 2-2 showing at the SF Work Hard Play Hard Best of the Best tournament. It was a strong summer for the squad and a farewell tour for Coach Nate who moved up to Sacramento last weekend. As one of the top coaches in the academy, Nate will be missed and he sends his best to all the athletes and families he’s worked with!

Our 5th/6th team kicked off the season with a winning record while playing up in the 7th grade division the first three weeks. They returned to their age group at Sequoia High School where they won the tournament with all three wins by 20+ points. In the final two weekends, they finished by playing the top division in Oakland tournaments with back-to-back 2-1 performances and a runner-up finish in the final weekend. A strong summer playing up against top competition!

Our 7th/8th team played up the first weekend against 9th graders before returning to their age group and winning a tournament at Gunderson High School. They went back-to-back with another tournament victory at Sequoia High School the following weekend. After winning two tournaments, they finished the season in Oakland playing top competition to prepare for the Black Club season. Big year with three athletes playing up!

Special Programming for Black Club Families

We always want to deliver as many training opportunities to our Black Club families as possible. While two practices a week aim to set our athletes up for success, we all know that extra work outside of practice is the separator in becoming an elite athlete. To help your athlete reach their goals, we have three other programs that we recommend to take full advantage of the Team Esface program and coaching.

Black Club Vitamins

With our practices running Monday-Thursday throughout the week, that leaves Friday as an opportunity for our athletes to get one final tune-up before weekend tournaments. Our Black Club Vitamins program is designed to help supplement practices with additional skill work and shooting taught by our Black Club coaches. These one-hour sessions are exclusive to Black Club athletes and offered at a discounted rate of $55 per session. There’s no long-term commitment and you can register week-to-week depending on your availability. 3rd-5th grade will take the court Fridays from 6-7pm at SportsHouse while 6th-8th grade will participate from 8-9pm. You can view a sneak peak of the program here.

Transformation

If you’re looking for a more personalized coaching experience in a 1-on-1 or small group environment, we highly recommend our Transformation program. This four-week program allows athletes to train once or twice a week depending on your schedule. We offer three different packages to best fit your athlete’s needs and you will be contacted by our staff after completing the interest form. We currently offer sessions on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. You can learn more about the program here.

Dr. Dish Shooting Machine Sessions

Want to get extra shooting reps? Look no further than the Dr. Dish Shooting Machine sessions. In this one-hour session, we’ll set up our Dr. Dish Shooting Machine and let athletes get their shots up in a small group setting. These opportunities are available on Wednesdays from 4-5pm or Sundays from 12-1pm, 2-3pm or 3-4pm. Register for a one-hour, $55 session below.

Shooting & Finishing Clinic with Pro Player Coach Lo Domingo

Work with master trainer Lo Domingo in a special shooting and finishing clinic. After winning a PBA Championship in the Philippines, Coach Lo is excited to share his expertise with our athletes. These sessions will include shooting form feedback and adjustments, footwork moves, and advanced finishing moves. Each player will be pushed outside of comfort zone and get a lot of reps with correct form. Sessions take place on Wednesdays from 4-5pm at Sportshouse and are discounted at $60 compared to the original $70 rate.

Coming Up…

We’ll be back competing in the Golden Gate League on Saturday for another two games of the regular season. Be sure to check TeamSnap for updates and please mark your availability on TeamSnap so we know our roster for each weekend. Excited to see our athletes back on the court!