ABA Camps/Clinics

Parents:  Why Should Your Child Attend Camps & Clinics?

With many youth basketball teams, the trend over the past couple decades has been to play more games and do less skill work.  While games are important, your child needs a healthy balance of game time and practice time.  The problem with more games and less practice time is that your child will touch the ball much less.  With more touches, your child becomes a better player.

With all things being equal, we’ll break down a typical 32-minute game:

• 32 x 5 = 160 total minutes for a team of 8 players.
• 160 minutes / 8 players = 20 minutes per player.
• 20 minutes per player / 2 = 10 minutes of time that your team is on offense.
• 10 minutes / 5 players = That means your child is only touching the ball for two minutes per game!!

During our typical skill sessions, a player will have the ball in their hands 60 to 90 minutes.  That means you have to play 30 to 45 games to touch the ball as much as a player would during one of our skill sessions.

Also, during a typical game, you’re lucky if your child gets 10 shots.  During our skill sessions, they should get anywhere from 100 to 300 shots.

Parents:  Shouldn’t My Child Get Plenty of Skill Work During Team Practices?

Yes, they should be, but they are probably not.  On top of getting limited gym time (typically 1.5 to 3 hours), most youth coaches will barely get enough time to teach team offense and team defense.  As a result, very little time is spent on getting better at individual skills such as, ball handling, shooting, footwork, and other basketball skills.

Now you probably see the importance of skill work outside of team practices and games.  ABA camps and clinics are a great way to gain this additional skill work!