Golden Gate League Hits Halfway

This past weekend marked the halfway point of the regular season in the Golden Gate League. It was another great Saturday for the academy with the 3rd Grade Goers, 4th Grade Goers, and 6th Grade Goers going 2-0 and the entire Team Esface Black Club going 12-6 on the weekend!

The Team Esface record book was reopened this weekend when Ricky Tague drilled eight three-pointers for the 6th Grade Goers in a win over the Bulldogs. This tied the record for three’s in a game held by Menlo-Atherton graduate James Beckwith who is currently playing at The College of New Jersey. Beckwith went on to shoot a NEWMAC conference best 47% from 3 as a freshman at Emerson College. Another major highlight was a tight overtime victory for the 4th Grade Goers which included a game-winning basket from Ryan Dong to take first place in their division.

With two weekends left in the regular season, the 3rd Grade Goers and 4th Grade Goers currently sit atop the standings at an undefeated 4-0 mark! Let’s keep improving and remember development is at the core of what we preach!

Alumni Spotlight: Brendan Mora

We want to take the time each week to spotlight some of our top Black Club alumni. This week, it’s one of our most successful Black Club athletes, Brendan Mora!

Brendan grew up in our Team Esface Black Club program and went on to play at Gunn High School as a 2018 graduate. As a senior, Brendan was named the 2018 SCVAL Most Valuable Player and led the Titans to a league title – all while carrying a 4.0 GPA.

After high school, Brendan went on to play at Division III powerhouse Pomona-Pitzer where he continued his success. As a freshman, Mora was a key contributor off the bench averaging 7.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. The Sagehens won the SCIAC regular season and tournament titles and reached the Division III Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.

Following a year off court due to COVID, Mora’s career exploded. He was named back-to-back SCIAC Player of the Year, averaging 17.0 points and 11.4 rebounds per game as a sophomore and 16.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game as a junior. He also earned First Team All-West Region and a Division III All-American honors in back-to-back years. The Sagehens went on to win four consecutive regular season championships, three with Mora on the roster.

For his senior season, Mora has transferred to Division II Chaminade University in Hawaii to conclude his college career. He’ll be suiting up for the Silverswords this season and we’re excited to follow him in his senior year!

Basketball 101: Increase Parent’s Hoop UNDerstanding

We’ve seen a lot of feedback from parents asking to help educate our Black Club families on the Team Esface philosophy and overall basketball knowledge and we’d love to help each week!

This week we want to emphasize our commitment to playing man-to-man defense. As a youth basketball academy, our primary goal is to develop competitive high school players and place winning as an afterthought. Of course we’re all competitive and want to win, but not at the expense of hindering our athletes long-term development.

Playing man-to-man defense provides numerous benefits at a young age. For starters, it prepares them to play and succeed at higher levels. Most (if not all) high school coaches will implement man-to-man defense to reduce defensive breakdowns and limit open looks. It provides much greater individual accountability and allows athletes to pressure the ball and rotate to force contested shots. It leads to better transition defense and defensive rebounding principles as everyone has an assigned player to box out. Many high school coaches thank us for our man-to-man philosophy and it allows our athletes to contribute earlier in their high school careers.

So why do youth teams play zone defense? It’s simple: zones force perimeter jump shots and are far easier to teach at the youth level. While man-to-man defense requires elite communication and understanding of seeing both man and ball, zone allows players to simply stand in a spot while limiting dribble penetration. It simplifies defensive assignments and requires an athlete to stand in an area, regardless of where the ball is. When a zone defense packs in the paint, it requires teams to shoot perimeter jump shots due to the lack of driving lanes. Since youth athletes don’t typically have the strength to consistently shoot from three-point range (or even reach the rim) it limits defensive breakdowns and gives up low percentage shots.

The issue, however, is with each year opposing teams will become more and more consistent from three-point range and these defenses become far easier to beat. By the time athletes reach high school, giving up open threes will be detrimental and understanding man-to-man concepts becomes crucial. If a player is unable to guard the ball 1-on-1, it makes it much tougher to earn trust and playing time from a high school coach.

To reemphasize this point, our coaches were lucky enough to attend a USA Basketball Clinic in San Francisco earlier this year. One of the guest speakers was Clayton Valley High School coach Frank Allocco Jr., who also learned from his dad as a legendary coach at De La Salle High School. He talks about his philosophy below and references a video of former NBA head coach Stan Van Gundy talking about the youth basketball scene. You can watch the video he references here (it’s also a favorite of our very own Coach Cam) and watch Allocco’s thoughts below. We’re fortunate enough to have five college coaches on our staff who all share the same belief.

Overall we understand it can be frustrating watching kids struggle to matchup, blow defensive assignments, or simply not comprehend the idea of “man and ball.” While it might limit our win-loss record at an early age, we truly believe it will pay dividends over the course of an athlete’s career. It’s also why our 17U team had so much success and held a 26-5 record during the Spring/Summer! We encourage everyone to trust the long-term vision, even if it leads to losses at an early age.

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. Let’s keep pushing as we reach the second half of the regular season!