Bull Dawg Basketball Skill Academy

Basketball this Fall

New Fall 2022 Program

For this coming fall Beyond The Hoop is expanding its annual fall Basketball Skill Academy program to include two segments each of which is briefly described below. The first segment will be the standard Academy basketball skill program, which we have done for the last three years, while the second segment will be a Shooting Clinic, which will be largely based upon the very successful shooting clinic that was held this spring and is now being incorporated into the fall Academy program. Individual players will be allowed to register (i.e., see form below) for either or both programs.

Basketball Skill Academy: The first segment on the program is focused on developing the skills of individual players, as has been done in the past. More specifically, this segment focuses on developing the following basketball skills:

   * Dribbling

   * Passing

   * Defense

   * Footwork

   * Basic shooting form (i.e., the six key components) and free throws

This segment is designed to primarily help players in the 3rd thru the 6th grade develop significant proficiency in the above noted basketball skills and will use the smaller 28" basketball.

Shooting Clinic: The second segment of the program is focused on helping players develop and broaden their basketball shooting capabilities and will be broken down in the following eight components:

    1. Difficult layups, particularly reverse layups with both hands

    2. Perfecting the mid-range shot (i.e., 10  to 15 ft or less)

    3. Shooting with opposite hand within three feet of the basket

    4. Quick release - catch & shoot

    5. Shooting coming off a screen with & without a defender

    6. Post up moves, including the Mikan drill

    7. Pick-and-roll combinations

    8. The three-point shot

About three sessions of the overall 24-week program will be devoted to each of these specific categories with the ultimate objective being to both (1) increase the proficiency of each player's basketball shooting skills and (2) broaden the range of a player's basketball shooting capabilities. A key component of this segment will be the use of  the Academy's state-of-the-art basketball shooting machine.

This segment is primarily designed to help older players in the 7th grade and above improve their basketball shooting capabilities, although advanced 6th grade players that have demonstrated their mastery of both basic shooting form and free throws can participate. It should be noted that this segment will use the larger 29" basketball for boys, but for girls will use the standard women's 28" basketball.

General: Depending upon the availability of court time the program will be on Mondays and/or Tuesdays from 6 to 8 PM with each segment being one hour long. The program will consist of 24 weekly sessions starting in late August 2022 and ending in late February 2023 (i.e., no sessions held on Labor Day or the last two weeks in December). As noted above both boys and girls are welcome to register for either or both segments (i.e., see registration form below). Lastly, in order to preserve our 3-to-1 player to coaching ratio participation in each segment will be limited to the first 12 players to register.

Skill Levels

As outlined below, the over 80 drills developed by the Academy’s coaching staff are subdivided into six skill levels ranging from beginning to intermediate to advanced with the latter including a focus on game situations. Players are initially provided with a white Bull Dawg Basketball Skill Academy ™ T-short. During each twelve-week testing session players are tested on their mastery of each of the five basic skills at their level. However, since the goal of the Academy is to develop complete, well rounded basketball players, players must demonstrate mastery of all five skill categories at their level before they advance to the next level. When the latter occurs players advance to the next level and receive a new, different colored Academy T-shirt. Then the process is repeated which allows each player to advance at his/her own pace.          

Six Skill Levels

1.     Beginner One: Very basic skills that are focused on the dominant hand and take into account size and physical limitations.

2.     Beginner Two: More advanced beginning skills that are focused on the dominant hand.

3.     Intermediate One: The focus here is on the mastery of the use of the opposite hand and increased difficulty for the various skills (e.g., distance).

4.     Intermediate Two: In essence, mastery of all the ‘basic skills’ using both hands.

5.     Advanced One: Application of basic skills in game situations. One example would be mastery of the ‘pick and roll’, as well as several other items.

6.     Advanced Two: Again, the focus is on game situations, but would involve intense sessions with coaches, as well as closely monitored one-on-one play with other advanced players.

Special Equipment

While foremost in the Academy’s program is the use of highly qualified coaches, the program does make use of a variety of equipment to increase the effectiveness of the program. Furthermore, while some of the equipment is relatively standard, other equipment is relatively unique, such as the state-of-the-art Dr. Dish VT shooting machine. The current list of equipment includes:

·      Dr. Dish CT shooting machine

·      Dribbling glasses

·      Shooting dummies

·      Basketballs - small (28.5 oz.), regular (29.5 oz.) and weighted (3 lb.)          

·       Reversible practice jerseys

·      Cones and whistles

·      Chalkboard and videos