Want to improve or hone your skills ahead of tryouts with some formal training?
A great way to stay in shape in the off-season, or to prepare for the start of a new season is with formal skills training or development. These are lessons taught by an experienced and qualified trainer in either one on one or in a group setting.
This is a great way to improve specific skills you need to work on, and runs you typically $30-$50/hr/session - and up - depending on what you're looking for.
There are 2 programs our youngest rep player has trained with, and we would recommend them both.
We'll tell you a bit about the program he trained with recently first, and after we'll tell you a bit about one he opted not to continue with, but would still recommend.
1. Evolution Toronto (Formerly Bishop Elite)
Evolution ( https://www.bishopelitecanada.com/ ) offers great training for boys/young men of various age groups.
They offer training to develop a player's shooting, passing, dribbling, defense, strength, speed, agility and IQ via drills and scrimmages that deliver the lesson in a very effective way.
Training sessions are offered for Fall and Winter, and they also run a popular summer program with participation in key local tournaments as well as a few AAU tournaments.
Evolution also offers a series of weekly summer day camp programs. They are also expanding their rep basketball program to a broader range of ages.
Our player has benefited tremendously from Coach Tai Chau's group sessions.
Coach Tai is a certified level 2 NCCP coach. He has coached competitive basketball for the past 15 years for youth aged 9-19. He was the director of Etobicoke Basketball U10-U14 for several years and is also one of the co-founders of Evolution/Bishop Elite Academy.
He is passionate about using basketball to help players with mental development and decision making on and off the court.
We honestly can't endorse the training here enough, but don't take our word for it, contact the office to go in and check out a session. Ask the other parents you see there what Tai and his coaches have helped their kids to develop and master.
2. Eurostep Basketball
A few years back my youngest player trained with Eurostep Basketball (https://www.eurostepbasketball.com/). First as part of a march break training program, and then as part of fall skills development.
From their website: "Eurostep offers a variety of training options to suit the developmental needs of our players. Each session type offers a different training structure to help athletes to achieve their goals. Whether these goals are to simply have fun and play in a structured league, or the athlete is looking to develop as a professional basketball player, Eurostep has the infrastructure to help."
Our player trained with Boris Bakovic, the founder and sole owner of Eurostep Basketball.
He's a a certified level 2 NCCP coach who has been doing small group training sessions since 2015 for a variety of age groups.
Boris's training helped my player a great deal, especially with shooting form.
He's personable, but straight up with the kids. Lets them know what he's teaching and why, and really helps them to understand they have to own their development.
Again, don't take our word for it, call Boris and book a visit to a session. See for yourself, let your player experience the program, and ask the parents you see there. Everyone I know that has had their player train with agrees his training was instrumental in their player getting a spot on a team, or more playing time, or simply improving a specific aspect of their game.
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